


RWBY Day 5

by Sillva



Category: Day 5 (Web Series), RWBY
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Coma, Drama, Grimm - Freeform, Multi, Mystery, Nightmares, Redemption, Sleep Deprivation, Suggestive Themes, volume 4 hype
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-19 02:22:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 34,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8185348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sillva/pseuds/Sillva
Summary: Spring break is right around the corner, and for some that just means having fun in the sun and enjoying their youth to its fullest. To many others however, it also means saying goodbye to their friends and returning home to their families. And while it is only a temporary separation, it always seems so much longer when your young.So with that in mind, the girls and boys of Beacon Academy are trying to enjoy the time they have left with one another before they must part ways. However when seemingly the whole world suddenly loses the ability to wake up, the gang quickly learns just how valuable every second can be.Join them as they race to find the cause of this waking nightmare. Will they be able to keep their eyes open or will the sand man come to claim them once and for all?





	1. Day 0: Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, this is quite the interesting little project I have been working on lately. In case you couldn't tell from the title, this is roughly based on the RT Web series Day 5. However I say roughly because even though the over all theme is the same, all characters that will appear in this story are either Canon RWBY characters or characters unique to this story. So there won't be any direct connection to the Day 5 story at all.
> 
> I have also taken some creative liberties with how the sleep 'virus' works. So you will noticed a few things are quite different in this story than they are in Day 5 in regard to that.
> 
> At the moment I plan for this work to be rather short with only 6 chapters in total and I hope to be able to finish it in a timely manor, unlike a few other works *cough*.
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoy and please remember to leave your thoughts in the comments.

It looked like it was just going to be a normal day at work for Glynda Goodwitch. She had woken up bright and early at 6:00am, took a nice warm bath, and like always enjoyed a nice hot cup of coffee before setting out for the academy. And not thirty minutes later, she had arrived at Beacon ready for the day ahead.

Mind you it had been a rather hectic day on campus, but hectic was the norm. Just about every day at Beacon was crazier than the last, really. And it wasn’t hard to imagine why when the school was filled with hundreds of hormone fueled and heavily armed teenagers. And the fact that this was a boarding school didn’t help the matter either. In her experience, she found that people, especially young adults, tended to become wilder when away from home.

Then of course there was the matter of spring break. This would be the last day before the children would be released for a week long break. And of course she was more than happy to get some time away from the students herself. However, during the days leading up to an extended break like these the students always seemed to get more daring.

It truly boggled the professor’s mind how they thought they could get away with half the stunts the students have pulled this year alone. It was like they thought they wouldn’t be coming back in a week’s time, and that a proper punishment wouldn’t be waiting for them when they did. That is if we allowed them to leave at all. Over the years there had been several cases of students losing their off campus vacation privileges over childish pranks.

With that said however, she did understand them on at least some level. After all, she had also been a carefree teenager once upon a time, albeit much less daring and with far more modesty than many of today’s youths. And it wasn’t because she didn’t want to be adventurous and have a good time, but rather because if her instructors had caught her, they would’ve tanned her hide red. And then they would have notified her parents so she could get a double helping when she came home.

‘Those were different times indeed,’ Glynda thought to herself as she stopped for a moment to let out a sigh and reminisce. She pondered what her students would be like now if they had been raised in her educational system. A sadistic part of her mind kind of wished her students could have the same school experience she’d had, even if only for a day. Then maybe they would understand how good they had it these days. And perhaps they would even realize that she really did have a heart and that despite popular belief, it wasn’t made of stone.

When Glynda finished musing over these thoughts, she had nearly reached the main entrance of the academy’s academic wing when a red and black blur zipped past her. “Good morning, Professor!” The blur shouted as it passed.

‘These kids don’t make it easy, do they?’ Glynda thought to herself as she reached down to unstrapped her riding crop/weapon from her thigh. And with the flick of her wrist, the blur’s momentum seemed to disperse almost instantly. The figure of a petite young girl with dark hair and a red cape emerged from within it. The girl let out a hushed squeal as she was practically yanked off her feet and pulled backward by some invisible force. Then Glynda flicked her wrist again and the girl was levitated back towards her and turned around to face her. “Good morning, Miss Rose. I know I need not remind you, but there is no running or semblance use permitted inside this wing.” She told the girl in a slightly threatening tone.

The girl let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of her neck before responding. “Umm but, I’m not inside the wing yet, right?” She asked timidly.

Glynda’s eyes narrowed as she spoke again. “Indeed, that is why this is only a warning. Do try to remember it, Miss Rose. This is your last day before break, it’d be a shame to mess things up now,right?” The girl let out an audible gulping sound before nodding vigorously. It had seemed like she successfully dissuaded Ruby from doing anything too rash for the rest of day. And so Glynda allowed a small smile of satisfaction to come over her face. However, it must have seemed quite sinister to the small girl, at least if the way she winced was any indication. So she forced it back down and released her grasp on Ruby. “Move along now Miss Rose, you don’t want to be late for class now do you?”

“Ye-yes, Pro-professor!” Ruby sputtered before dashing off only to skid to a stop right before she entered the doors and begin to walk normally again. Glynda just stood there shaking her head and thinking it was going to be a long day.

If only she knew just how right she was.

///////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Beacon Academy Cafeteria

“Ugh!” Ruby groaned as she plopped down at her team’s usual table in the cafeteria. The WBY of team RWBY and all four members of team JNPR were already seated and enjoying a hearty breakfast upon her arrival.

“What’s wrong, sis? Unusual for you to be late for breakfast, did something happen?” Yang asked noticing her sister’s woes.

“Yeah, you look like you could really use some pancakes!” Nora added from her spot on the other side of the table. This caused Ruby to look up at the massive stack of pancakes set out in front of the pink clad hammer wielder. “You will have to get your own though, these are mine!” She declared as she began vigorously stuffing syrup smothered chunks into her face

Ruby let out a frustrated sigh before responding. “I ran into Professor Goodwitch on my way here this morning.”

Yang chuckled. “Still can’t handle her, huh? Did she give you another lecture?”

“Yeah there was that, and a not so subtle threat. She practically said that she wouldn’t let me leave campus during vacation if I caused her any trouble! Seriously, what did I ever do to deserve that!?” Ruby complained.

Yang along with the rest of the table cringed. “That fiend, can she even do that!?”

“According to the student handbook, leaving campus during the school year is a privilege. And therefore it could be taken away if the staff sees fit.” Weiss chimed in.

“Why am I not surprised you read the student handbook?” Yang deadpanned.

“I read it too.” Blake added.

Ruby just groaned again and slumped down onto the table. “This sucks! We may have to call off tonight’s party now!”

Yang suddenly looked flabbergasted as she broke into a rant. “Cancel the party!? No way, we spent two whole days planning this shindig! So why on Remnant would we cancel it now!?”

Weiss gave a nod of agreement before adding. “Indeed, with everyone going back home for break tomorrow, we won’t be able to see each other for quite some time. So it would be nice to have some fun together while we can.”

“Because guys, as I’m sure your handbook would tell you, parties in the dorms are against the rules. If the Professor catches wind of it, well, we all could end up stuck here all break long!” And I don’t know about you Yang, but I want to go home and see dad.” Ruby argued.

“Of course I do Ruby, but that’s no reason to throw away all of our hard work. I mean, what’s even the worst case scenario? Even if Goodbitch finds us out, all that means is that we will just end up spending spring break here together, right?” Yang reasoned.

“Hey, speak for yourselves. Some of us actually have real vacation plans!” Weiss hissed from her seat beside Ruby. “Winter would kill me if I told her I had to cancel our trip to Vacuo because I had my privileges taken away.”

“So what, you don’t want to have the party now!?” Yang huffed in frustration.

Yang was surprised when a mischievous grin ghosted across the lips of her white clad teammate. “Oh no, we’re having that party. Like you said, we’ve already put too much work into preparing it to just brush it aside. I’m just saying that we’ll have to be more careful about this from now on.” Weiss stated mirthfully.

“Oh my god, I think we’re finally rubbing off on you, Ice Queen.” Yang said jokingly before glancing over at her partner on the far end of the table. The black clad cat faunus had been rather quiet thus far and Yang had been making it a point not to exclude her from their conversations. Regardless of whether or not the faunus had any interest. “How about you Blake, you still in?”

Blake looked up from the book she had her face crammed into and focused an annoyed glare on her partner before responding. “I suppose, it’s not like I have anything better to do.” Blake stated dryly. Unlike the rest of them, she didn’t really care about the party one way or the other. She would much rather spend her time alone in a quiet corner of the library, but she knew a certain set of blonds wouldn’t let her miss out. Even if she could hide from Yang, surely Sun would sniff her out. So why bother fighting it.

“Come to think of it,” Pyrrha spoke up this time, gaining everyone’s attention. “I don’t want to be intrusive and I don’t mean this in a bad way so you don’t have to answer but, you said that you don’t have any close relatives to go visit. So I was wondering what your plans for spring break were, Blake?”

“Hey that’s right, you haven’t mentioned them.” Yang added, now feeling curious herself.

“Well, it’s not like I have anywhere to go home to.” She began, causing Nora and Ren to cringe slightly. “So I will probably just stay here and catch up on my reading.”

“What, that’s so lame!” Yang blurted before a thoughtful look came over her face, and after a moment a smile crept onto her lips. “Oh, I have an idea! If you really have nothing better to do, why don’t you come to Patch with me and Ruby?”

“Hey yeah, that’s a wonderful idea!” Ruby cheered as she clapped her hands together and turned to face Blake expectantly.

To say Blake looked surprised by the offer was an understatement. It was clear she never even considered the possibility and seemed to be at a loss for words. After a long moment of silence, it looked like she was just about to responded when Weiss spoke up first. “It’s ‘Ruby and I’ by the way.” She corrected Yang’s earlier grammar mistake.

“Hush, Weiss.” Yang said dismissively before leaning closer to her black clad partner. “So how about it, Blake? You want to come with us?”

Blake quickly composed herself and cleared her throat before responding. “Just to make sure I understand what you’re asking. You want me to tag along on your trip back home?” Both Ruby and Yang nodded. “Unannounced, won’t your father think I’m a rude person?” She asked.

“What, that friendly old man? No way, he loves meeting new people!” Yang said dismissively. “And besides, I know for a fact that he’s been dying to meet you. So this will be a great opportunity.”

The look on Blake’s face made it clear that she still wasn’t sold on the idea. And nobody could really blame her, it was quite sudden. However, the puppy dog eyes Ruby was shooting her made it hard to decline, so she resigned herself. “Alright, you win, but how am I even going to get there? I haven’t started packing yet and you’re leaving tomorrow. It’s a little late to book a flight, don’t you think?” She inquired.

“We can help you pack tonight! We have some free time before the party starts.” Ruby declared cheerfully.

“And you don’t have to worry about the flight. Our uncle Qrow will be picking us up in his own ship and I’m sure he won’t mind one extra person. Especially not if we tell him it’s a cute girl.” Yang added with a suggestive wiggle of the eyebrows.

The name Qrow caught Weiss’ attention. “Wait, by Qrow, do you mean that crazy drunk who assaulted my sister in broad daylight!?” She asked and when Yang nodded she went on. “You’re letting that mad man fly you across the kingdom!? Do you have a death wish or something? And how can this Kingdom allow somebody like that to have a pilot’s licenses in the first place!?”

“Hey, Uncle Qrow is not crazy! And for your information, he’s a great pilot. He used to always say that he felt more comfortable in the sky.” Ruby said defensively.

“He’s not a bad teacher either, depending on the day of the week.” Yang added the word teacher causing Weiss’ eye to twitch ever so slightly. With an amused chuckle Yang turned back to her partner. “So how about it Blake, if you really don’t want to go we won’t force you. Though I think it will be a lot of fun to have you. I can even give you the full tour of the island!”

Blake was quiet for a moment, a contemplative expression on her face. “You said your Uncle will be flying us, will he also be staying with us in Patch?”

An odd look came over Yang’s features, she wasn’t sure what she had expected her partner to counter with, but it wasn’t that. “Yeah, he said that he would be staying there for at least a few days. He said that he plans to stay for the whole break, but might need to leave a few days early for work. Why, is it a problem if he’s there?” Yang asked.

A small smile crept onto Blake’s face as she spoke. “No, not at all, you can count me in.”

Yang gave Blake an inquisitive look and Blake pretended not to notice as she returned her attention to her book to hide the rosy pink coloration that had begun to creep onto her cheeks. After another moment of awkward silence, Yang chose not to look a gifted faunus in the mouth, simply shrugged off her partners odd behavior, and went over to pull her into a tight hug. “Oh, Blake we’re going to have so much fun together!”

Blake yelped as she was lifted out of her seat and forced into a vice. “Yang, can’t breathe.” She complained.

“Oh, sorry about that.” Yang apologized before promptly releasing the faunus girl. And she looked like she was about to say something else when the sound of rock music filled the air.

Everyone at the table instinctively turned to look in the blond’s direction with curious expressions. “Is that your scroll?” Blake asked while she tried to work the soreness out of her neck and arms.

“Yeah, this is Coco’s ring tone. Hold on a minute.” Yang replied before she quickly retrieved the device from her pocket and pressed the answer call button. “Hey Coco, what’s up!? Are you and your team coming to the party in our dorm tonight?” She asked into the receiver. There was a pause for a moment as she waited for the person on the other end to respond. “Yeah, that does sound like fun and all but, I’m sorry Coco. I won’t be able to come out tonight.” There was another pause and Yang nodded before speaking again. “Alright, well I hope you guys have fun, bye.” With that the call ended and Yang returned to her seat at the table.

“What was that about?” Weiss inquired.

“Oh, well it looks like team CFVY won’t be able to make it to the party tonight. They decided to ditch class and head out into Vale for the day. And she also said that she’s going to hit up the club later and wanted to know if I was interested. I turned her down of course. Now let’s get back to business!”

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Vale City

“I’m guessing Yang will be busy?”

Coco Adel leader of team CFVY let out a disappointed sigh as she closed and returned her scroll to her hand bag from whence it came. “Yeah, it looks like Yang had already made plans with her team for tonight, a first year party or something like that. So it may end up being just you and me tonight Fox.” She said to Fox Alistair, the young man who had spoken to her a moment ago.

The young man in question was slightly taller then the girl and had dark skin and bright red hair. And he didn’t look nearly as disappointed by the news as he simply shrugged it off. “That’s too bad, but hey don’t be so down, honey. I can think of a lot of fun things we could do with just the two of us.” The way he spoke these words came off quite suggestively and it wasn’t lost on his partner.

Coco seemed less than amused by the propositioning and just rolled her eyes, making sure to exaggerate the gesture just to make sure it was noticeable behind her sunglasses. And then she responded in a slightly dry tone. “That’s cute, but we will be spending the next two weeks together on the beaches of Vacuo, so we will have more than enough time for that later. However, we will be leaving everyone else behind in the meantime. So you will forgive me for wanting to have more of a farewell party than a romantic evening.”

Fox let out a sigh and scratched the back of his neck while trying to answer. “Yeah, I know what you’re saying. It just doesn’t look like we will have much of an option one way or the other. I sort of figured we should try to make the best out of it is all.”

Coco seemed to deflate slightly after that. “I guess you’re right about that, love. We will just have to go out to the club by ourselves. Well, that is of course if I can’t convince the two of you to change your minds and come with us?” She said as she looked past Fox and toward her other two team members. Yatsuhashi Daichi, a large boy with short dark hair and Velvet Scarlatina, a rabbit faunus girl with long brown hair.

The two in question were currently sitting across from Coco and Fox in their café booth. The team had stopped in to relax and enjoy a nice warm beverage before going out for more fun. However, their stay was lasting much longer than Coco would have liked. And this was because the latter two members of her team decided to turn it into a study session. And the two were now scribbling away on their vacation home work. “You guys listening?” Coco asked.

Noticing that their leader was now addressing them, Velvet let out a groan before turning to face Coco. “I already told you Coco, I don’t feel like going to a club tonight.”

“And I still don’t understand why! I just want to have a little fun with you before we go on break. Is that so wrong?” Coco asked.

Velvet rolled her eyes at that. “No, I wouldn’t say that’s wrong. However, your idea of fun can be anything but for the other parties involved. If you really just wanted to hangout, there are a lot of things we could do.” She retorted.

“Oh, like what?” Coco huffed.

Velvet looked thoughtful for a moment before responding. “Well, I guess you could join us in getting our vacation homework done. You still haven’t done it, right? I hope you’re not planning to wait till the last minute again? Remember what happened last year?”

Coco’s eyebrow arched upward as she spoke. “You’re kidding, right?”

This comment seemed to visibly irk Velvet and she looked like she was about to retort when Yatsuhashi chimed in. “Or, we could see if we could join Yang and her friends later. You said they were having a party, right?” He suggested in a diplomatic tone.

“Hey yeah, that’s a ripper idea, Yatsu!” Velvet said excitedly. “What do you think, Coco?”

Coco seemed to think it over for all of about two seconds before just waving it off. “Na, Yang is cool and all, but I barely even know the rest of those first year kids. And besides, it’s a first year party and it’s taking place in their dorm room. There’s no way they would even be serving any alcohol. They wouldn’t dare with that tight ass Goodbitch patrolling the halls.”

This response seemed to really get under the rabbit faunus’ skin, because when she spoke it was with venom. “Is alcohol all you think about!? You do know that you don’t have to get bombed out to have a good time, right!? I’m not in the mood to baby sit a couple of drunks tonight!” She snapped.

“What, no that’s not all I think about! Come on Vel, I just enjoy having a cold drink every now and then. If I swear that I won’t get wasted tonight will you come?” Coco pleaded.

The rabbit faunus scoffed at that before addressing her leader in a stern tone. The same type of tone a mother would use to scold a child. “That’s what you always say. Then a few shots later and you’re either dancing on table tops, or picking fights with strangers, or having me hold your hair back while you puke your guts out. Coco, I love you, and for the most part I enjoy spending time with you. However, I don’t trust you to restrain yourself around alcohol.”

Coco was so taken aback by her teammate’s tongue lashing that one might have thought that she had just been slapped in the face. And what made it even worse was that a part of her kind of wished she had been. She figured her aura would have made that sting a lot less than her teammate’s words had. “Gees, that’s harsh, Vel. The way you say it makes me sound like a total cot case.”

“Aren’t you!? I’ve see you put down a whole slab before I even got to my second drink! You have a problem, Coco!” Velvet accused.

Coco didn’t take kindly to her ‘friend’s’ accusations, and she made this clear by pulling her trademarked sunglasses free from their resting place above her nose so she could level a glare at the faunus. “You have no idea what you’re talking about! And I don’t have to stand here and take this! Come on Fox, let’s just let these kids have their fun!” She roared as she spun around, shifting out of her seat, and began marching towards the door to the café.

“Go on then, no need to get off your bike love. You can do whatever you want, see if I care!” Velvet spat after her.

“Wait Coco, I don’t think-“ Fox tried to persuade his leader but was cut short when she spun back and yanked him along by his arm out of the booth and out of sight.

Velvet let out a deep sigh as she deflated into her chair. “Well, that could’ve gone a little better.”

“Yeah.” Yatsuhashi said as he nodded in agreement.

“Hey Yatsu, do you think I said too much?” Velvet asked. Her tone now completely drained of its anger and energy.

“Perhaps, though I think you were right about her having a problem. As our leader, she needs to set an example. Yet at every opportunity she seems to show a complete disregard for discipline. Somebody had to say something to her. I likely would have myself if you hadn’t beaten me to it.” Yatsuhashi said reassuringly.

Velvet hummed thoughtfully as she processed her friend’s words. “Thanks Yatsu, though I still think I went a bit far. She really looked upset just now. Do you think she will forgive me?” She asked.

Yatsuhashi gave her a small nod. “Yeah, I’m sure she will. Coco is like a powerful storm, her temper can flare up as quickly as lightning and it can be just as violent to boot, but it also passes just as quickly. Especially when she knows that she’s in the wrong. And she isn’t a fool, I get the feeling that she already realizes that herself.”

“Oh, what makes you say that? She seemed fairly adamant when she stormed out.” Velvet inquired curiously.

Yatsuhashi shot his friend a grin. “It’s because she stormed out in the first place. Coco would never back down if she thought she were in the right. That’s just the type of person she is. So I’m sure she will be over this by morning. Just you watch.”

“You really think so?” Velvet asked, still sounding a little skeptical.

“I know so.” Yatsuhashi responded while sharing a reassuring smile with his teammate.

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, I think a nice warm shower would help me unwind.” Velvet said as she stood up from the booth and began to stretch out. “You ready to head back to Beacon?” She asked.

Yatsuhashi gave his partner a warm smile before standing himself and gathering up their paperwork. “Yeah, let’s head back.”

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Beacon Academy First Year Dormitory 6:00pm

“There, you’re all packed.” Yang declared while forcing a stuffed suitcase closed. Then once it was latched up tight she stood up and wiped a few droplets of sweat from her brow. “I told you we could get it done before the party started.” She added as she turned towards her black clad partner who was latching a second suitcase shut.

Blake then stood up and gave her partner a smile. “Yeah, though it was a close call. The party will be starting in just a few minutes.”

Yang hummed thoughtfully. “Yeah, well it would have gone a lot faster if you let us help with your book collection.” This comment caused Blake’s ears to twitch slightly and a red tint to appear on her cheeks once again. However, this seemed to go unnoticed as Yang went on. “Why are you bringing so many anyway? I know you love reading and all, but we’re only going to be there for two weeks. I doubt you will get through half of those.”

Blake shrugged. “I like to keep my options open. Besides, I have never really been on vacation before, so I’m use to keeping all of my belongings with me I guess. And some of these are first editions. I would worry too much if I left them behind.”

“I guess that makes sense. I like to keep my options open too.” Yang said as she leaned closer to her partner and gave her another suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows.

“Personal space please.” Blake deadpanned as she shoved Yang’s face away from her. “Geez, you can be worse than Sun sometimes, I swear.” She huffed.

“Whatever, I know you love me.” Yang declared with a chuckle, and though Blake didn’t agree with the statement, she made no argument against it either. Yang thought about teasing her partner a bit more but was interrupted by a knock on their dorm room door. “Oh, that must be our guests!”

With that, Yang made her way over to the door and pulled it open to reveal all four members of team JNPR. “Hello again, I hope we’re not early.” Pyrrha greeted.

“No, you guys are right on time.” Yang stated as she made way to allow the four into the room.

“Kind of hard not to be, I mean we live across the hall.” Nora chimed in with a giggle.

“So says the person who nearly caused us to be late.” Jaune added.

“Oh, what happened?” Yang asked.

“Nora had too many sweets this morning and had a bit of a sugar crash. We couldn’t wake her until only twenty minutes ago.” Ren explained, causing Nora to giggle and give a quick apology.

Yang laughed at that until she heard another knock on the door. “I should get that.” She said as she began to walk towards the door, but turned back around to address the group again. “Oh right, just to let you guys know, we have refreshments in the cooler so feel free to help yourselves. The gaming system is already hooked up over there. If you feel like playing some music my scroll is hooked up to the speakers over there, and the playing cards and board games are in the closet over there. If you get hungry don’t worry, Ruby and Weiss should be back with some snacks here soon.” Yang said as she directed their attention to each item. “You guys feel free to get started while I get this.”

“Roger, captain!” Nora declared with a salute before reaching over to interlock her arm with Ren’s and dragged him forward. “Come on Ren, let’s play some games!” She cheered. Ren being use to his partner’s rough treatment just sighed and agreed.

“Shall we?” Jaune asked his own partner. The red head gave him a nod of agreement and they followed after their teammates.

Meanwhile, Yang had made her way to the door and had pulled it open to reveal a blond faunus boy named Sun Wukong and his blue haired aqua phobic teammate Neptune Vasilias. “Hey guys, you ready to party?” Yang greeted.

“Heck yeah, this is going to be awesome!” Sun cheered before glancing over Yang’s shoulder to spy Blake chatting with Pyrrha and Jaune in the middle of the room. “Hey, Blake!” Sun greeted the fellow faunus before rushing into the room.

Yang just shook her head. “Well that boy is eager to get his heart broken.” She mumbled to herself.

“What was that?” Neptune asked.

This caused Yang to stiffen slightly before laughing for no apparent reason. “Oh nothing, just thinking of a funny joke I heard earlier.”

“Oh, alright then.” Neptune said before glancing around the room and taking in all the little decorations. “I’m guessing Weiss put all of this together?” He asked.

“Hey, it was a group effort.” Yang stated in her defense. “Though yes, Weiss did do most of the decorating.”

“By the way, where are all of the beds?” Neptune asked as he realized how spacious the small dorm room suddenly felt.

“Oh, those? We figured we would need the extra space, so we did some checking around and we found out that the dorm room just a few doors down from us is currently empty. The team is away on an important mission and won’t be back until after break. So last night, we moved all of our beds in their and began decorating. And just so you know, we contacted the team and they gave us the okay.” Yang explained.

“Wow, sounds like a lot of work.” Neptune commented, getting a nod of agreement from Yang. “Where did you guys sleep last night?” He asked.

“We just used the sleeping bags we usually use for when we are out on missions.” Neptune then made a comment about how that must have been rough, causing Yang to shrug. “It was kind of fun, actually. Usually when we use those things we’re out in the wilderness fighting for our lives. However, when it’s here in our dorm room, it was kind of like the sleepovers and camping trips Ruby and I used to have as kids.”

“I guess I can see the appeal. Will you be sleeping like that tonight as well?” Neptune asked.

“Sleeping? Who said we would be doing any sleeping tonight? We’re partying until the roosters call!” Yang cheered. And it looked like Neptune was about to comment on that when the door was pushed open before Ruby and Weiss stepped into room, hoisting large paper bags filled with various treats. “About time, what took you guys so long?” Yang asked.

“Blame Ruby, she grabbed too much stuff! Do you know how hard it was to carry all of this back here?” Weiss complained, causing Ruby to pout.

“Here, let me help you with that.” Neptune said as he rushed over to relieve the heiress of her sweet and salty burdens. Weiss became a little red when she realized he had heard her little rant, but was quite pleased to have his help and the two quickly made their way in to join the others.

Meanwhile, Ruby was left stumbling with her own bag and Yang let out a sigh as she stepped forward to give her little sister a hand. “Here, I got you.” She said as she stabilized her sister and took the bag off her hands.

“Thanks, sis!” Ruby cheered before the two also moved to join the others after setting down the bags and spreading out the snacks for everyone to see.

With that, the party had begun. And had been going for nearly an hour when another rap on the door was heard. The knocks had an odd rhythm to them, almost as if the person on the other side wasn’t sure what they were doing. And each one was loud and flat, like they were using a hammer to do the job. Everyone exchanged odd uncertain looks before directing their gaze on the door.

“Umm, are we expecting anyone else?” Ren inquired.

“Well, there is one other person but she said she wouldn’t be here for a few more hours.” Yang said.

“Should we answer the door then?” Pyrrha asked.

“Yeah, I’ll get it. If it were a teacher or something, they would have spoken up.” With that, Yang stood up and made her way over to the door before carefully cracking it open and peering out into the hallway. Nobody came into view right away and Yang was beginning to think it had just been a practical joke. “Hello?”

“Salutations!” Yang heard somebody suddenly shout, causing her heart to jump into her throat before she tumbled backward, though managed to right herself. When she refocused on the door, which was only slightly open she saw standing in the threshold a short confused looking girl with red hair, green eyes, and freckles.

“Penny!? What are you doing here!?” Yang shouted.

“Did I do something wrong?” Penny asked, suddenly sounding like a kicked dog.

That’s when Ruby zipped by and pulled Penny into a hug. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong Yang’s just a grouch sometimes!”

“Ruby, did you invite her?” Yang asks.

“Yeah, is that a problem?” Ruby asked in a slightly defensive tone.

All Yang could say to that was. “No, you could have told us first, though.” It’s not as if Yang had any problem with Ruby inviting people herself, after all this dorm room belonged to all of them and Ruby was the leader. However, she still had trouble dealing with this strange girl her sister had befriend and would have liked to known she was coming beforehand.

“Fine, I will next time, alright?” Ruby asked and Yang nodded in agreement. “Okay, now let’s play a game!”

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Beacon Academy First Year Dormitory 10:00pm

“Do we really have to go to this stupid party!?” Mercury Black complained as he and his fellow partner in crime Emerald Sustrai made their way down the hall towards the dorm room of team RWBY.

Emerald leveled a glare on the grey haired boy beside her and sighed. “Hey, I don’t like acting all buddy-buddy with these kids any more than you do, but you heard Cinder. She wants us to keep our eyes on them, and that means staying close. Besides, I already told them that I would be coming, wouldn’t it be suspicious if I didn’t show up?”

“Key word there, you told them that you would show up. Not me, so why am I getting dragged along!?” Mercury demanded.

“Because you’re supposed to be gathering information on them as well, but so far I’ve been doing all the heavy lifting. It’s about time you start pulling your weight!” Emerald hissed as she stuck a finger into Mercury’s chest. When Mercury threw his arms up in mock surrender, Emerald turned away and continued down the hall and Mercury followed after her without complaint. “Besides, it won’t just be team RWBY at this party. Pyrrha Nikos and her team, as well as a few unknowns will be there as well. And there’s no way I’m going into this viper pit without backup.”

“Oh, is the mighty Emerald scared of a couple of brats?” Mercury asked in a mocking tone.

This caused Emerald to elbow her partner in the side before snapping at him. “If Cinder says they could be a threat, than we need to be prepared to face one! Now shut up and keep moving!”

“Bitch!” Mercury hissed before following after.

A moment later and the pair were at the door to team RWBY’s dorm room. The sounds of obnoxious laughter and annoyingly loud music filled her ears as she came close. Emerald had to take in a deep breath to prepare herself for the hell that awaited her on the other side. “Aright, let’s do this!” She told herself as she knocked on the door.

After a moment of what sounded like panicked movement, the room went quiet and the door cracked open just a hair to reveal a lilac eye staring at Emerald. Then the door was pulled open to reveal the eye’s owner, Yang Xiao Long. “Hey Em, I was beginning to wonder if you were going to make it!” The blond declared cheerfully.

“Yeah, I made it. Oh, and my teammate is with me, I hope you don’t mind?” Emerald responded before directing the blond’s attention to Mercury.

Yang looked Mercury up and down before shrugging. “No I don’t mind, it is a party after all. Though what happened to being socially awkward?” Yang asked with a dumb smirk plastered on her face.

Mercury gave Emerald an odd look which she ignored. “Oh, he still is, but if I don’t let him out every now and then he will ruin the carpeting.” She said jokingly, causing both Yang and Emerald to break out into a fit of laughter while Mercury could only grit his teeth and go along with it as to not ruin their cover.

“Anyway, do you have the stuff, Emerald?” Yang asked in a slightly more serious tone.

“Oh, yeah.” Emerald said as she gave Yang a wide mischievous grin and pulled around a black duffle back she had been carrying this whole time and unzipping it, revealing several unopened cans and bottles of alcohol. “Will this do?” She asked.

And before Emerald knew what was happening she found herself being pulled into a hug by blond brawler. “Oh, right on! I knew you would come through, Em!” And then when she sat Emerald back down, she ducked behind the two of them and quickly shepherded them into the dorm room. Once the two were inside, she glanced back and forth through the hallway to make sure it was clear and shut the door before locking it tight. Then she turned to the rest of the party goes and declared. “Alright, it’s time for the real party to get started!”

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Cubs Club Downtown Vale 2:30am

“Last call!” A large bearded man in a black suit and red tie called out from behind the bar to notify his patrons that he was about to stop serving alcoholic beverages. In response to the call, several people began to shuffle their way towards the bar to grab one or two more drinks before the night’s end.

Meanwhile, Coco was sat at the far end of the bar nursing her third drink of the night and posted up beside her was a slightly worried looking Fox. “You’re not going to order anything for the road?” He asked her and Coco’s response was only a muted nope. “You taking it slow tonight?” He said the words almost like a question.

“Yep.” Coco replied dryly as she took another small sip of her drink.

This only made the worried expression on Fox’s face more apparent. “What Velvet said earlier is really getting to you, huh?” He inquired.

Coco’s attention snapped to her partner and she leveled a glare on him. “No, why would anything that girl says be getting to me!? Don’t be stupid, Fox!” She roared.

Fox rolled his eyes and made sure Coco saw it before replying. “We both know that isn’t true, Coco. Now do you want to talk about it or not?” He offered.

Coco’s glare faltered and her gaze fell down to her barely touched drink as she let out a sigh. “Do you think I have a problem?” She asked solemnly.

“With what?” Fox asked, causing Coco’s glare to return in full force. “I’m kidding, geez.” He said with a laugh.

“I’m being serious here, Fox!” Coco growled.

“I know, and that’s the problem.” Fox stated flatly, causing Coco’s angry glare to instantly be replaced by a look of confusion.

“Fox, what are you on about?” Coco asked in a tone that suggested she wanted a real answer.

Fox shrugged. “You’re putting too much thought into all this. Maybe Velvet is right, and maybe she isn’t. What’s important is that we’re a team and you’re our leader. All you have to do is make the choices that are best for the team. Of course, if that means you have to cut back on your drinking than that’s what you will have to do.”

“So you do think I drink too much!?” Coco snapped as she slapped her hands down on the table, knocking her glass over and spilling it’s contents onto the counter. When the bartender focused a glare on her, she voiced a quick apology before turning back to Fox to repeat her question in a more hushed tone.

“I never said that.” Fox said with a shrug. “What I meant was that you’re the leader, Coco. It’s up to you to decide what’s in the best interests of the team. If you think your performance is suffering due to your drinking, than you should cut back. Personally, I haven’t noticed any major problems in the field, and I’m sure you would know your own limits far better than I ever would. All any of us can ask is that you don’t push those limits.”

“So, you’re saying that I just need to learn my limits, then?” Coco asked and promptly received a nod of approval from Fox. “I see, I guess you make a good point there. I will try to be more careful from now on.”

“And what else will you do?” Fox asked.

Coco stared at him for a moment, unsure of what he was getting at. So Fox used his hands to simulate a set of rabbit ears on his head and then acted like he was groveling. Coco seemed to get where this was going because then she responded. “You want me to apologize to Velvet?”

“Regardless of the reason, friction between teammates is most certainly not good for the team.” Fox retorted.

“Fine, I’ll do it, but for the record, I still think she’s wrong.” Coco groaned as she began to reach for her scroll, only to be interrupted by a thud and some high pitched giggling. Coco glanced over to locate the source of the disturbance to find that a cat faunus girl had taken up the seat opposite Fox at the bar.

“Hey Junior, another Sangria, please!” The girl shouted as she leaned over the bar to get the owner’s attention. To Coco’s observation, the faunus girl looked like she had long since had enough to drink for one night, at least if her inability to sit still or stop her incessant giggling was anything to go off of. Though based on the girl’s odd appearance, Coco highly doubted she cared. If Coco had to describe it, she would say it looked like a rainbow had thrown up all over her. Her hair was bright red with blue highlights mixed in and her outfit was a wild mix match of colors that all seemed to clash against her green eyes.

After ordering her drink and settling into her seat, the faunus girl glanced in Fox and Coco’s direction. When the faunus’ eyes met Coco’s, a wide smile came over her face and she instantly leaned in closer to the two of them. “Hey there cutie, you want to party with Neon tonight?” She asked in a tone that made it clear she had more in mind then hanging out.

Coco’s eyes widened in disbelief before they sharpened into draggers and glanced at Fox to gauge his reaction to the obvious solicitation. Pleased to see that he was quite uncomfortable with the whole thing, Coco directed her ire back on the cat. “Hey, back off, skank. Are you blind or just stupid? Can’t you see he’s with me!?”

The girl who Coco could only imagine had some sort of death wish just giggled and leaned in closer to her. “Who said I was talking to him, Cutie?”

That caused Coco to lock up for a moment until she caught the cat faunus girl’s eyebrows wiggling in a suggestive manner, and Coco had to break eye contact to scan around the bar just to make sure she hadn’t walked into a gay bar by accident. Confident that this was indeed her usual watering hole, she turned back the cat faunus to reply. “I’m flattered, but I don’t swing that way. And I have a boyfriend.”

“Who is right here!” Fox chimed in.

This seemed to earn them another giggling fit. “Hey, I don’t mind a plus one.” She said as she glanced up into Fox’s eyes and purred. “Besides, you have quite good taste.”

Coco was flabbergasted. She wasn’t quite sure what she expected when she came out tonight, but she certainly didn’t expect for another girl to try wrangling her and her boyfriend into a three-way. Coco glanced back up at her partner and he seemed to be in a similar state of shock. That or he was just wisely waiting for her to make the call. Of course, the choice was obvious and Coco was too sober to get it confused. “Sorry, but the answer is no. We aren’t interested.” she told the girl flatly.

Then the cat faunus sighed as she turned back to the bartender. “Junior, make that three Sangrias!”

“What’re you doing?” Coco asked suspiciously.

“Peace offering.” The faunus replied as Junior set her own drink down in front of her. She then quickly downed her drink and put money on the counter as she made to stand up. As she passed Coco, she handed her a small slip of paper. “I will be in Vale for a few weeks. If you guys change your minds, hit me up!” She declared before walking away.

“Did she just-“ Fox began before Coco beat him to it.  
“She just gave me her scroll number. Well, hasn’t this been an interesting night?” Coco asked as she stashed the slip into her pocket.

“Indeed.” Fox replied while taking note of the fact that Coco had kept the slip but, he chose not to comment on it.

Then after that, their drinks came and Coco actually downed the whole thing. And then Coco made to leave herself. “Well, it’s about time we get out of here.” Fox gave a nod of agreement as he stood up to join her and they began to make their way towards the door. That’s when all hell broke loose.

Coco jumped when a door connecting to the back of the club burst open hard enough for it to smack against the connecting wall and let out a heavy thud. Coco and Fox spun around to see a girl with long black hair and a white dress come running out from the threshold. She was crying and looked completely panicked. “Junior!” She screamed towards the owner as she made for the bar.

“Melanie, what the hell are you doing!? We still have guests!” The man barked as the white clad girl clambered over the bar and threw herself at him. Finally noticing the girl’s distress, the owner seemed to switch gears slightly and began doing his best to comfort her. “Alright, just calm down, what’s going on?”

The girl made a few attempts at explaining, but her words kept coming out jumbled. This went on until Junior picked up a few keywords ‘Militia’, which was the name of the girl’s sister, and ‘sick’. “Melanie, is something wrong with your sister? Where is Militia?”

“Sh-shes in the br-break room, I-I went to wa-wake her up after her break and, and I ca-can’t get her to wake up!” The white clad girl sputtered.

“She won’t wake up? Is that all your worked up about?” Junior asked.

Then the white clad girl leveled a gold glare on him. “No, she’s sweating bullets and she’s barely breathing, Junior! Something is seriously wrong, Junior, I can feel it!” She spat angrily.

“Alright, alright, I believe you! Why haven’t you called 911?” He asked.

“I-I tried, the lines are all busy!” The girl hissed.

“Busy, all of them? That can’t be right, let me try.” Junior said as he pulled out his own scroll and dialed the emergency hotline. He waited for a moment before an automated message played back to him. “Oh shit, they are busy. What on Remnant is going on?” He soon got his answer when the scroll in his hand began to vibrate as an emergency broadcast took over it.

“Warning, this is a Kingdom wide emergency, do not fall asleep. This message will repeat.” The message said as it played loudly over his scrolls small speakers. And as Junior looked up from his scroll, he saw the same story playing out across his club. Many of his guests were looking down at their scrolls with worried or confused expressions while many others were trying desperately to get in contact with their loved ones.

Then Junior noticed a man lying with his head down at the far end of the bar and he rushed over to check on him. “Hey, sir, you need to wake up!” Junior yelled to no avail, so he placed his hand on the man’s shoulder and began to shake him. “Hey, wake up, this is no joke here!” Again the man did not stir, instead he just seemed to crumble and slump out of his chair onto the floor. “Monty, what is going on?!”

Meanwhile, after seeing all of this play out, Fox and Coco were now booking it down the streets of Vale towards the air docks with their scrolls up to their ears trying desperately to reach their teammates. “Yatsu isn’t picking up!” Fox shouted.

“Come on, pick up Velvet! I know you’re pissed but please just pick up the damn scroll!” Coco roared before the call went to voicemail. “No, no, no this can’t be happening! Fox we need to get back to Beacon right now!” She shouted.

“Don’t have to tell me twice!” Fox responded before they continued down the streets, neither noticing a similar brand of chaos playing out around them.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Beacon Academy Courtyard Time Unknown

Déjà vu, yeah, that was the feeling that best described what Yang was currently experiencing. She felt like she had experienced this before, which only added to her mounting confusion. Mainly due to the fact she couldn’t recall her ever leaving the comfort of her dorm room in the middle of the night and trekking half way across campus just for a stroll in the courtyard. This time in included but, for whatever reason she was here, and the reasons just didn’t seem all that important at the moment.

What did seem important to her was the strange uneasy feeling she was getting from everything around her. It felt almost like something was crawling up her spine and an Ursa was trying to force its paw down her throat at the same time. Not to mention the daunting pressure hanging in the air. And this pressure was the one feeling she was sure she had felt before. However, much to her frustration, she couldn’t seem to recall from when or where she had experienced it.

As Yang shuffled her way across the courtyard seemingly aimlessly, she suddenly found herself drawn towards its centerpiece. A huge statue which depicted a group of hunters tracking a Grimm stood before her and as she drew closer, she almost thought she saw something move through the shadows out of the corner of her eye. However when Yang spun around to investigate, she found nothing but the vast empty courtyard.

Yang drew in a shaky breath to calm her nerves before calling out into the darkness. “Hello, is anyone there?”

The only reply she heard was a low menacing growl before something struck her. That something had shot out of the shadows and it struck her hard in the side as it past, sending her tumbling to the ground groaning in pain. As Yang tried to push herself back up onto her feet she sensed the creature was making another pass and she threw herself forward into a roll to get out of the way just as it zoomed past and carved a line in the payment across the ground where she had just been. Not wanting to be struck by another attack like that, Yang jumped back onto her feet and managed to finally catch a glimpse of her assailant.

The creature looked almost humanoid, in a strange shadowy kind of way. It stood up straight on two legs and it had what appeared to be arms hidden under a cloak of shadows. The creature could almost pass as a person, if it wasn’t for the unmistakable white mask hovering in the void where its head should be. 

“Why in Remnant is a Grimm, here!?” Yang gasped. While it didn’t look like any Grimm she had faced in the past, its mask looked far too real to fake like the White Fang’s. Also the way it had attacked her without any warning or fear of retaliation, really sold her on the Grimm idea.

Now that Yang was settled on what she was up against, she knew that she was going to have to fight this thing. With that in mind, she quickly moved into her usual fighting stance and instinctively tried to activate Ember Celica. However after a moment of nothing happening she curse under her breath, because she realized that she wasn’t even wearing her weapon. “Well, isn’t that just great!? I guess we’re doing this the old fashioned way then!” She grumbled before charging forward in the direction of the Grimm.

The Grimm must have taken this as an open invitation however since it sprang back into motion, meeting Yang head on. Yang was hoping for this however and responded by focusing her aura into her legs so she could pick up more speed. Then right before the two colliding with each other, the Grimm went into a corkscrew like spin and what appeared to be a large curved claw extended from within the shadows, which it used to take a swing at her.

Yang dove forward under the Grimm’s swing allowing it to pass her by so she could roll back onto her feet and strike the Grimm from its back side. Noticing that its prey had slipped by, the Grimm turned around just in time see Yang’s fist coming directly for its face. “Eat this!” She roared right before her first connected, or at least it seemed like it did until it passed right through the Grimm.

The shadow’s that made up the Grimm’s form all parted just enough to allow Yang’s hand to go through before forming right back into the body of the Grimm once she had passed. This left Yang bewildered and before she had time to react, the Grimm had struck her again, causing her to let out a cry of pain as her aura absorbed the blow.

While Yang was staggered the Grimm pressed its attack and it was all Yang could do to avoid its attacks. One moment it would be on her left and the next her right. It moved at a speed she had never witnessed in a Grimm before, and though it had legs, it seemed to glide across the Courtyard more than it ran. On top of that, as the Grimm moved, it left a trail of what appeared to be black feathers in its wake. This led Yang to wonder if her opponent could actually be some sort of a bird type Grimm. However she had little time to ponder the possible applications as she had to quickly evade another series of frenzied attacks.

From there Yang watched her opponent’s movements carefully. It was moving quickly and sporadically without any real pattern. Since it didn’t seem to have any rime or reason behind it, it made things very difficult for Yang. So she just continued to put as much distance between herself and the Grimm as she could. At the very least she could maximize the time she has to react, since her attacks didn’t seem to be doing a diddly squat. And it wasn’t for a lack of effort, since she has taken several more shots at it each time it would pass her but every single time she would just slip right through.

Also Yang was starting to get a feel for her opponent’s range. It was a lot longer than she originally thought. What she saw as a claw actually seemed to be some sort of bladed weapon and it was at least a few feet long. This struck her as very odd because the Grimm have never been known to use a weapon. This fact didn’t seem to stop this Grimm in front of her though as it swung the weapon towards her head. Yang quickly pulled back just in time to avoid decapitation, however a lock of her hair wasn’t as lucky. Seeing this caused Yang’s eyes to widen before turning from lilac to a bright red and glaring at the Grimm. “Alright, you are starting to get on my nerves!” She roared as her body seemed to burst into flames and she went on the offensive.

The Grimm must have sensed the danger since it actually began to evade Yang’s punches rather than let them pass through its form. Yang wasn’t sure why but it suddenly changed its tone but, she wasn’t going to complain. If it was trying to avoid the attacks now and that was a good sign. It at least meant that it could be hurt. However it also meant that this creature was smart enough to tell the difference between an attack that could hurt it and one that couldn’t and that was more than a little concerning.

The melee went on like this for what seemed like hours. Yang couldn’t tell exactly how much time had passed since she still hadn’t seen a ray of Sun light or another person since the fight began. And she still hadn’t managed to land a solid hit against the Grimm. It didn’t even show any signs of slowing down either, it just kept attacking. Yang on the other hand was beginning to slow down.

Much to Yang’s dismay however, the Grimm seemed to be aware of Yang’s plight and was becoming increasingly more aggressive as time went on. After a few more minutes and all Yang could manage was to barely defend herself and she could feel her aura draining away each time they clashed. At this rate something would have to give soon. And after the Grimm took another swing at her neck, something did. Yang tried to backpedal out of the blades path but stumbled when the back of her foot snagged on a loose stone.

“AHHHHHH!” Yang yelped as she fell backwards onto her rear and before she could recover the blade of the Grimm was pressed up against her throat pinning her to the ground. “Oh, shit!” She choked out as she glanced up to meet the cold red eyes of the Grimm. “Hey, there’s no need to be hasty. Maybe we could talk about this?” She asked while letting out a nervous chuckle. The Grimm only pressed the blade down harder, causing Yang’s aura to flicker and a thin trail of blood to form on her neck. “Guess, not.”

Yang began to struggle push the blade away but she couldn’t muster the strength. The Grimm may have been small and maybe even a whole head shorter than her but it was strong. She would really like to know what this thing was and what it was doing here but, she was beginning to get the feeling she never would. At least until she felt something warm and wet splash onto her face and at the same time she noticed that the pressure pinning her to the ground was letting up.

Curious Yang peeked up at her attack and gasped when she saw the business end of a Katana sword embedded in the creature’s chest. The blade had entered through the Grimm’s back and punched right through where it’s hard should be, if it had one at all. And based on the blood that was now seeping from the blood and the wound, it was a yes. Then Yang saw the blade recede back through the Grimm’s chest, before being hoisted up to promptly behead the creature. And now that it was a whole head shorter it crumbled to the ground before almost instantly dissipating.

Yang now completely free from her attacker began to gasp and desperately suck in air while her aura went to work repairing the damage that had been done. That’s when she heard the voice of her savior. “Get up!” The voice commanded.

This voice was familiar to Yang and it caused her attention to shoot upward almost instantly. She saw a familiar looking women dressed in a black and red kimono. She had long black hair and her face was hidden behind the Mask of a Nevermore. However unlike the creature Yang had fought a moment ago, there was no mistaking her for a Grimm. Despite what her bright red eyes might suggest. Feeling a wide mix of feelings hitting her all at once, Yang tried to respond to the women before her. “M-mon yo-your here!”

The women didn’t seem interested in chatting however, since she quickly grabbed Yang by the shirt and yanked her to her feet. “I said get up!” She hissed.

Yang yelped as motion reminded her that her injuries were still there. “Ouch, chill, I’m up!”

“Not, what I mean, now get up!” The women shouted as she grabbed Yang by the shoulders and began to shake her violently.

Feeling pain begin to shoot through her whole body Yang shook off the women and snapped at her. “Would you stop for a minute and start making since please! What is going on here!? What in the name of Monty was that thing!? And while we’re at it, where have you been, and why are you here now!?” Yang demanded.

Yang wouldn’t get the answers she seeks however as the women jus shook her head and began man handling her again. “There is no time, that thing isn’t dead. I have to get you up right now! Sorry about this!”

“Sorry about what!?” Was all Yang could get out before the women pulled back her fist and drove it into Yang’s face.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Beacon Academy First Year Dorm 2:59

Yang gasped as she woke and had to catch herself as the wooden chair she had been sitting in nearly toppled over. And when she steadied herself, she was met by the sight of her dorm room. She now recalled that she had been having a drinking contest with a few of the guys and things got a bit out of hand. Across from her Mercury, Sun, and Neptune were all face down on the table. Just like her they must have passed out after drinking too much. Then her eyes began to scan the rest of the room. Ren was resting in the corner, how he could fall asleep in the lotus position was beyond her. As for the rest of the gang, they all seemed to be sat around the TV watching a movie. Or at least Yang figured that was what they were doing before she scared the crap out of them.

“Yang what’s wrong!?” Ruby asked as she stood up and made her way over to her sister. A concerned look painted across her features.

Yang quickly waved off her sister. “I’m alright, just had a crazy dream.”

The worried expression on Ruby’s face didn’t dissipate however, it only grew more intense. “Yang, how are you okay? You are bleeding you know!?”

Yang ran her hand across her neck and realized that she was indeed still bleeding. “But, dreams can’t make you bleed.” She whispered to herself as she felt a chill run up her spine.  
Then both Yang’s and Ruby’s attention snapped back to the television as it let out a static filled hiss and the movie was replaced by what appeared to be an emergency broadcast. “Warning, this is a Kingdom wide Emergency. Do not fall asleep. This message will repeat. Important information will fallow.” The message stated.

And that chill Yang was feeling was now a full blown blizzard. “Hey, Ruby, what is that? Were you guys watching a scary movie or something?” Yang asked with a nervous laugh.

Ruby just shook her head. “No, this isn’t part of the movie.” She said as she stared at the screen. Then after a moment she looked back at her sister. “Yang, what’s going on? Do you know anything about this?”

“I-“ Yang tried to say but the words died in her throat as she noticed the guys now all seemed to be in some sort of pain. “Oh, no.”

“What is it, what’s happening!?” Ruby asked and now the others seemed to be aware that something was wrong as well.

“Ren!” Nora scream from the corner of the room as she shook her partner. “Ren, the lady on TV says it’s bad to be asleep right now! I need you to wake up, please wake up!” She pleaded. Nora’s words becoming more and more desperate with every attempt to wake him. Pyrrha and Jaune shared a worried look before they both nodded to one another and rushed over to their teammate to calm their frantic teammate. Jaune pulling Nora aside while Pyrrha checked their teammates vitals.

“He is alive but, his pulse is weak! We need to get metical attention!” Pyrrha declared.

Meanwhile Weiss, Blake, and Emerald were busy checking on Sun, Neptune, and Mercury who seemed to be in a similar situation. However there was a vast contrast between their expressions. Weiss and Blake were clearly in a panic and the worry they had for the well being of their friends was clear. On the other hand Emerald’s expression had a much sharper edge to it. It was like she wasn’t sure what to be feeling but it wasn’t concern. Not for Mercury anyway.

However there was something that Emerald was worried about. She had no idea what this was. Which was serious since it meant this wasn’t in their control. At the very least, she hoped this wasn’t the work of her allies, because she figured they would at least have given her a heads up about a chemical attack like this. And that is especially true when you took into account that she was currently at the center of the whole thing. “Could this be the White Fang’s doing?” She pondered to herself before quickly shaking her head to dismiss it. “No, we already have a plan to assault Beacon. Adam wouldn’t take a risk like this, and Cinder wouldn’t let him if he tried.” After that thought something else clicked in her mind and she suddenly became panicked. “Cinder, crap!” Emerald shouted as she rushed towards the door.

“Wait Em, where are you going!?” Yang called after the green haired girl.

“I need to check on my teammate!” She shouted back as she burst through the door and rushed down the hall.

“What about your other teammate?” Yang mumbled to herself as she glanced over at the motionless form of Mercury, slumped over the table with a bottle of beer still gripped in his hand. And that image caused a sudden jolt of guilt to run through her. The guys wouldn’t be asleep if she hadn’t goaded them into the contest. This was her fault.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Beacon Academy Guest Dorms 3:10am

Emerald burst into their team’s dorm room. A move she never would have taken under normal circumstances since it would normally lead to either a server tongue lashing or incineration. It all depended on Cinder’s mood really, so it was best to play it safe and be prepared for the worst. Once Emerald was inside, she realized that the room was pitch-black. Just like how Cinder liked it to be when she was resting. “Cinder, are you here!?” Emerald cried out as she pushed her way into the dark room, frantically searched the wall for the light switch. “Cinder, I don’t want to disturb you but we have a serious situation and I need instructions!” She shouted into the darkness before finally finding the switch and flicking it.

When the lights came up and the room was revealed, Emerald nearly choked on her own tongue. “No, crap, no!” Emerald shouted as she ran over to the bed in the far corner of the room to hover above the motionless form lying atop it. “Cinder wake up, we need you!” Emerald shouted in desperation as she claimed up onto the bed and began to shake the slumbering pyromancer. After still getting no response Emerald held her head down to Cinder’s chest and breathed a sigh of relief when she heard a pulse. However just like the Nikos girl had reported. It was weak, and upon closer inspection, whatever was happening to her was getting worse. “Cinder please, I don’t care if you light me on fire! Just wake up, I need you to tell me what to do!” Emerald pleaded but there was still no response.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Beacon Academy Staff Lodging 2:50am

Glynda leaned back in her desk chair as she stretched out her muscles. It always stuck her as funny, how worn down one’s muscles could get when not being used at all. And now she was officially spent. She had just spent the last two hours, filling out reports, grading papers, and getting a few other documents in order for the vacation. And after all that she just couldn’t understand why her students complained about a little homework so much. If they had to do even a third of the paper work she had to do tonight, there would be a riot. She swears that they would think the world is ending. She at least took some solace in knowing that they would learn the truth some day. Oh, how she looked forward to seeing that.

For now however, all she wanted right now was a good night’s sleep. With that in mind she quickly left her study room and shuffled into the bath room to dress for the night. A moment later and she reemerged in a plain white nightgown and pushed open another door, which lead into large master bed room that was just as neat organized as the rest of her home. And without any ceremony she threw herself onto her queen sized bed and rapped herself up in the soft embrace of her comforter. “Good night Dorothy.” She mumbled towards a bird cage in the corner of the room before letting out a sigh and relaxing.


	2. Day 1: Denial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the first day after the incident had begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it is that time isn't it. This is the second part of my six part series RWBY Day 5. This chapter is quite special in that it is easily the longest chapter I have ever put out for any of my works. This chapter also features a special guest character from one of my personal favorite RWBY authors Coeur Al'Aran.
> 
> Coeur Al'Aran has given me permission to use his original character Kitsune in this work. In case you are not aware Coeur writes many RWBY stories on Fanfiction/net, many of which center around Jaune Arc and are all fairly good. I personally recommend Professor Arc (the work Kitsume is primarily featured in.), Not This Time Fate, and Forged Destiny. And before you ask, no Coeur did not ask for a plug, I just think these stories are that good.
> 
> As for this chapter itself, well as it turns out, trying to write a whole days worth of content is difficult. However, when you have such a large cast it is possible. Though most of what happens in this chapter takes place in a relativity small time frame, and there was still a few things I couldn't squeeze in this chapter so I may have to come back to this day later. Regardless I think this chapter came out quite well and I hope you all enjoy.
> 
> Special thanks to MartunaMajor for proof reading this chapter and once again to Coeur Al'Aran for allowing me to use their character.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Day 5

#### Beacon Academy Staff Lodging 3:10am

Glynda Goodwitch had just settled into her bed and was waiting for the sweet release of sleep to take her, but it wasn't coming easily. She had always had trouble falling asleep at night, even since she was young. And despite her doctor's advice, she refused to use sleep aids. It wasn't that she had anything against them on a fundamental level, she just didn't want to become reliant on them. So instead, she had drilled a set routine into her body. She would always wake up at 6:00am, and go to bed no later than 12:00pm. By conditioning her body this way, it had made it easier to fall asleep. However, it was a double edged sword. Since she had so much more work than usual and wouldn't be teaching classes tomorrow, or rather later today, she had made an exception. That is why she had stayed up way later than she usually did. However, it now seemed like it was a fatal mistake. She had now completely missed her window and her body was almost too tired to fall asleep, if that makes any sense.

With all that said, Glynda still had more work to do in the morning and as such, she needed to get as much rest as she could while she still had time. So she willed herself to sleep even harder. And for a moment, she felt like it was working. Her muscles were losing their tension and the pounding in her head was beginning to subside. Then the pounding came back tenfold when she heard the sound of her scroll going off. She had left it on her night stand so it could charge and act as her alarm clock. Now she heard a groan escaping her own mouth as her hands shot up to rub her temples.

Then one of her hands shot over to the night stand to aggressively snatch up the scroll so she could glare down at the screen. Displayed across the screen was the name of her employer/friend and headmaster of Beacon Academy, Professor Ozpin. Glynda found this mighty unusual. Ozpin would often contact her in her off hours to talk about work, but never this late before. With one last groan, she tapped on the screen to answer the phone. "Ozpin? It's three in the morning, so this better be important." She tried to sound aggravated but it only came out as groggy.

"Glynda, thank Monty you're still awake! Listen carefully because we don't have much time! I need you to come back to Beacon as quickly as possible and look after the students!" Ozpin stated in an uncharacteristically panicked tone.

This got Glynda's attention really quickly. "Wait, why!? What's going on Ozpin!?" She asked as she listened closely to sounds coming through the other end. It sounded like heavy objects were being knocked over and she could also hear the sound of papers being rifled through.

"I'm umm," Ozpin began before pausing as if he was unsure of what to say. "I don't know yet Glynda, but it's bad, and if we don't act fast I fear it's only going to get worse." He said before another loud banging sound echoed from the other end and he spoke up again. "I'm out of time, can I trust you to look after the students?!"

"Yes of course, Ozpin!" Glynda replied automatically.

Glynda could hear Ozpin letting out a sigh, whether it was of relief or not she was unsure. "Thank you, I will get back to you as soon as I can. And one more thing Glynda, don't fall asleep! No matter what happens you can't fall asleep!" He declared, and before Glynda could question it Ozpin ended the call.

"What was that? What is going on?" Glynda pondered before a thought accrued to her as she glanced back to the corner of the room where her birdcage sat. "I'm surprised all this commotion hasn't woken Dorothy." After saying that, Ozpin's words from a moment ago returned to her, and filled her with dread. She quickly sprang up from her bed and marched over to the bird cage to pull its cover free. Upon doing so, she let out a gasp as she nearly fellow over backwards. Her pet was not on its usual perch, but instead was sprawled out on the bottom of the cage, motionless. Without breathing another word she dropped the cover and ran to her dresser to switch back into her work clothing. After no less than three minutes, she was changed and out the door.

////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Beacon Academy Guest Dorms 3:15am

Emerald was in a bind. She didn't know what was happening or what she was meant to do. All she knew was that one moment everything was fine, and the next she was all alone. She just didn't understand. Working for Cinder was supposed to make things simpler. Cinder would tell her what to do and how she wanted it done, and then Emerald would do it. Only a fool would deviate from her plans and risk the pyromancer's ire. Now however, she was left with without a plan, and without any back up.

After giving up on awakening her comrade, Emerald sat down beside Cinder's bed and pulled her knees to her chest. She sat there quietly for some time, her breath uneven and her shoulders trembled ever so slightly. Then after what seemed like an eternity, she let out a heavy sigh as she finally managed to calm herself down. That is when she began putting her mind to work.

"Come on Emerald, what would Cinder do at a time like this?!" She asked herself. She certainly wouldn't quiver on the floor like a stupid child. That was the first thought that came to her mind, and she was surprised how deeply that mental dagger cut her. She had to shake her head to clear out the poisonous thoughts and focus. And she asked herself again, what would Cinder do? After a moment of thinking about it, she began to speak to herself again. "Cinder would find a way to use this mess to her advantage. It was in the middle of the night, so over half the populace had to have been asleep when all this started. If none of those people are going to wake up, then everything will break down. Military, law enforcement, even the hunters and huntresses are all affected. With their numbers cut so drastically and with all the panic in the streets, they will be too busy to pay attention to anything else."

As she finished that thought, another one sprang to mind. "Right now I can get away with just about anything, the question is what is it that I need to do?" Then Emerald found her eyes being drawn back towards her comrade. Cinder was still motionless on the bed. Her only sign of life being the way her chest inflated and deflated with each breath, though it was only barely noticeable, and seemed like it might even be getting weaker. The sight sent another chill up Emerald's spine. She had never even considered the possibility of losing Cinder. Cinder had always been such a beacon of strength and conviction that it became very hard to imagine her ever being so vulnerable.

The truth was undeniable, however. Cinder was in trouble and if Emerald didn't do anything, she was going to die. That though made Emerald's decision easy. She couldn't let Cinder die, not like this. Sure she could be a cruel, vindictive bitch, and she had a bit of a god complex, but she was still her friend. Well, sort of anyway, and that was all Emerald needed. No matter what she'd have to do, no matter what she needed to steal or who she would have to hurt along the way, she was going to find a way to sort this out. Come hell or high water, she was going to save Cinder. As well as Mercury she supposed. That is if she had the extra time, of course.

With that decided, Emerald began to pace back and forth through the room. Her mind was now in overdrive. "I need a plan. What do I need for a plan?" She thought aloud before stalling for a moment to think about it. "I need information. I need more details, and then maybe I will be able to start piecing things together. Where can I get information quickly?" She pondered as she began pacing once again. "The White Fang, perhaps?" She asked herself before shaking her head and dismissing the idea. "No, who knows what Adam would do if he found out about Cinder's current state. He would likely see it as a chance to take command himself. So who else is there?" She asked herself.

Then realization hit her. "Roman!" She couldn't believe that she hadn't thought of him before. As much as she didn't want to admit it, the guy was good at what he did. And stealing was only a small part of what he did. He was also very well connected, at least here in Vale. Even if he was as lost as she was, surely if there was anyone in this town that could point her in the right direction, it would be him. There was only one problem. "Crap, I don't know how to get in contact with him!" Emerald groaned in frustration.

Sure, she has worked with Roman quite a bit recently and had even grown to respect him on a professional level. However, it didn't change the fact that he was a pompous, make up wearing, ass-hat with no fashion sense. She hated his guts, and if it weren't an emergency or on Cinder's orders she would rather have nothing to do with him. Since it was usually the latter, she could rely on Cinder setting up their meetings with Roman, so she never needed his contact info before. And now that an emergency has come up, she was screwed.

Or maybe she wasn't. After putting some more thought into it, something occurred to her. Cinder had always set up the meetings! That meant she would have his contact information! With that thought, Emerald looked back towards the bed and her eyes quickly shifted to a small object resting on the night stand. "Cinder's scroll!" Emerald declared excitedly as she rushed over to the device and snatched it up.

Once she had the scroll in hand, she pressed the power button on the side and allowed it to expand in her hands. However, her expression dipped slightly when she noticed the password screen pop up. "Locked, of course it would be! Let's see how long that lasts!" She huffed before she rushed across the room towards her own bed. Then she reached under the mattress to retrieve a dark green backpack which she preceded to rifling through. After a moment, she pulled out a device of some kind which she quickly connected to the charging port of the scroll. Within seconds the screen of the scroll began to flash as the password seemed to enter itself and unlocking it. "Ha, never underestimate a master thief." She gloated before getting to business. As one would expect, the layout of Cinder's scroll was quite simple and organized, so it didn't take long to reach the contacts.

Once she reached the contacts however, she ran into another problem. All of the names that were listed were unfamiliar, and most were quite generic. This was likely in case someone had managed to break into the scroll, much like she was doing right now. And that thought made Emerald suddenly feel kind of uneasy about what she was doing. "Cinder wouldn't be upset about this, would she? This was all for her sake after all. Yeah, it will be fine, I just have to stay focused." She reasoned as she went back to scrolling through the listed names, reading them carefully for clues to indicate their owners. One thing she noted was that not even Mercury's or her own real names were listed.

Emerald had received many calls from Cinder before, so she could assume that she had her number. However, Cinder's number had always been blocked, so she couldn't be sure that it was this scroll that she had be called from. Still though, it was a place to start. She began clicking on the names, searching for numbers she knew, that way she could at least eliminate them as candidates. When she found her own number listed under the title of 'Sister' Emerald suddenly felt a slight tightness in her chest. The idea that Cinder could think of her as a sister was quite an appealing fantasy to say the least. A fantasy she hoped she would have time for later. For now though she had to push that thought aside and continue.

Before long she had managed to narrow down the list of candidates quite a bit, and after that she simply checked the call history to see how often she had communicated with them. Then she selected the number she had used the most, it was under the listing of 'Cousin Red' and she held the scroll up to her ear as it began to ring. After a few rings with no answer, a sinking feeling began to form in her stomach. She hadn't even considered what she would do if Roman was already asleep. The idea that she might have wasted all of this time for nothing was migraine inducing. And after the sixth ring she was just about ready to cut her losses and give up when the ringing suddenly cut out and was replaced by complete silence. She quickly pulled the scroll away from her ear to make sure that it was still connected and when she was sure that it was, she spoke up. "Hello? Roman, is that you?" She asked cautiously.

"…" The other end was quite, but Emerald could make out the faint sound of movement and then breathing.

"Roman if you are there, this is an emergency! I don't have time for any of your games!" Emerald shouted in annoyance.

"…" There was still no audible reply, but she could faintly hear the sound of somebody tapping on the receiver.

She was confused for a moment but as she listened to the tapping she quickly recognized it as morse code and that made it easy to figure out who she was talking too. "Neo, is that you!?" She asked.

"-.- . ..." (Yes)

"Where is Roman? Is he with you? I need to talk to him right away?"

"-.- . ... / ... . / .. ... / ... . .-. . / .- .. - ... / - . / -... ..- -," (Yes he is here with me but,)

"He's asleep isn't he?" Emerald asked.

"-.- . ... / -.. - / -.- - ..- / -.- -. - .- / .- ... -.- / ... . / .- - -. .-. - / .- .- -.- . / ..- .-. ..-.. / .. .-. - / -. . - - .. -. -. / .- - .-. .-. .. . -.. .-.-.-." (Yes, do you know why he won't wake up? I'm getting worried.)

"Slow down Neo, your tapping too fast." Emerald said as she let out a tired sigh and began rubbing her temples. Roman was a bust then, but maybe it wasn't a complete loss. Neo was odd but she was quite capable and she was also Roman's partner. Surely she would know a few of his contacts. "Neo, listen carefully. I don't know what's going on either, but I plan to find out. I don't think I can do this on my own though. If I agree to help your boss, then will you help me?" She offered.

Neo began to tap without hesitation. ".- ... . .-. . / -.. - / -.- - ..- / .- .- -. - / - - / - . . - ..-.." (Where do you want to meet?)

Emerald had to think about it for a moment but then replied with. "Our hideout near the docks, I'm sure you know the one. I will see you there in half an hour." With that, she heard a few more taps of confirmation before the line went dead. Then she quickly gathered up her weapons along with an assortment of equipment she thought might come in handy and went towards the door. Upon reaching the threshold, she spared one last look back at her friend. She felt bad about leaving her here but she couldn't carry her limp body clear across town. It would slow her down and draw way too much attention to herself. Besides, there was likely going to be rioting in the streets before long, and that meant Beacon would be a far safer place to keep her. "Hang in there Cinder, we will figure this out and then I will come back for you. I promise!" Then with that she slipped out of the room.

/////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Streets of Vale 3:30am

Despite all odds, Coco and Fox had managed to run across half of Vale and reach the airfield in less than ten minutes, a record time to be sure. Their legs ached from the exertion, but they didn't care in the slightest. What was important was that they would be able to get a lift back to Beacon from the docks, even in the dead of the night like it was. Or at least that was usually how it would work, however upon their arrival, they were met with a small problem.

"What do you mean you can't get us to Beacon!?" Coco roared into the face of a slightly frustrated looking member of the airfield staff.

"I'm deeply sorry, Miss, but all ships are grounded until further notice." The staff member desperately tried to explain.

"Well un-ground one so we can get back to Beacon, this is an emergency, damn it!" Coco seethed as she grabbed the staff member by the collar of his uniform.

The staff member threw their arms up in a show of surrender, and it was clear by their tone that they were frightened. "Look, I really am sorry, Miss, but I don't have the authority to do that, and even if I did there wouldn't be anyone to fly it."

"Why not!?" Coco demanded.

"Because the only pilot we have on this shift took off the moment he landed and hasn't come back. I think he went to check on his family." The staff member explained.

"You are telling me that nobody here can fly these things!?" The staff member just nodded in response to her question. "Well that's just great!" Coco grumbled as she dropped the man and stormed back towards the entrance. Upon crossing the threshold back onto the street, she heard the voice of her partner call over to her.

"No luck?" Fox asked.

Coco glanced over to her partner who currently had his scroll up to his ear. Coco could hear the faint sound of ringing from her position a few feet away. "No, how about you, you hear back from anyone?"

Fox shook his head. "I still haven't heard from Vel or Yatsu, and I even tried contacting Teams MYST, CRUS, and BETA just to see if one of them could check on them. So far all I have gotten is voicemails."

"Yeah, most of the teams from our year are out on missions, so that limits are options. Have you tried any of the first years? They were having that party tonight so maybe some of them are still awake." Coco inquired.

"Don't have any of their numbers. Do you?" Fox asked.

Coco groaned before answering. "Only Yang's, but I already tried it and it didn't even ring. Maybe her battery died or something."

"Want me to try Vel and Yatsu one more time?" Fox asked.

"Sure." Coco said as she gave her partner a disappointed nod and walked over to lean against the wall beside him. Then after another failed call attempt she turned to address him again. "This is bad, isn't it Fox?" She asked somberly.

"About as bad as it gets, love." Fox said with a shrug before pressing call again. Then after a moment his blank eyes lit up when the sound of a click was heard on the other end. "Hello, Yatsuhashi!?"

/////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Beacon Academy Main Avenue 4:00am

Despite the fact that the apartment complex Beacon had set aside for staff use wasn't that far from the main campus, it was unfortunately not on the same elevation level as the rest of the academy. This made traveling between the two without the use of a Bullhead or some other means of transportation quite difficult. However, this wasn't the first time Glynda Goodwitch had to get to campus in a hurry without the luxury of transportation. She didn't let it stop her then, so she wasn't going to let that stop her now.

Though it had taken longer than Glynda would have liked, she had managed to march all the way around the cliff face and arrive back onto the plateau hosting the main campus. And upon reaching the summit, Glynda allowed herself a brief moment to both catch her breath which had become slightly strained during the ascent, and to gaze out over the academy grounds for any signs of the trouble Ozpin had warned her about.

Once Glynda had managed to take in most of her surroundings, she had to fight off her instinct to scream as to not waste the air she had managed to get into her lungs. So instead, she let out a horrified gasp. "What is this!?" She asked.

Glynda wasn't really sure what she had expected to find when she got there, but she certainly didn't expect the sight that had greeted her. Usually the sight of any activity on the grounds would have been considered odd at such an ungodly hour as it was. However, despite that fact, the Academy was for lack of a better term 'alive' with activity. Students were running about in a panicked daze, some shouting back and forth to one another. Though she couldn't quite make out what they were saying, she could tell that they were relaying commands and she could also see what they were doing quite clearly. Several students were carrying around what appeared to be the limp forms of their peers, while some other students carted around supplies. She also noticed that both sets of students seemed to be moving towards the same location, the Amphitheater. Nearly every other student that didn't currently have their hands full appeared to be running in the other direction, likely to the dorms to retrieve more of their classmates.

"What happened to all of those students?" Glynda thought aloud before she took in another deep breath to calm herself down and continued her stride. After seeing that, she was more eager than ever to get to the bottom of this fiasco and she figured her best bet was to head for the amphitheater.

When she had made it closer, she spotted a familiar red blur zipping past and on instinct she called out to it. "Miss Rose!" She shouted to get the girl's attention.

Hearing Glynda's call, the red blur came to an instant stop and the form of a young girl and a cloud of rose petals took its place. Then once the rose petals had dissipated, the young girl spun around to look in Glynda's direction. Just as Glynda had thought, the blur was none other than the young leader of Team RWBY, Ruby Rose.

When Ruby turned and laid her tired silver eyes came upon her teacher they became as wide as dinner plates before taking on a look Glynda couldn't quite identify. The look in the girl's eyes was uncertain, maybe even fearful, yet almost joyful at the same time. Before Glynda could even begin to deceiver the looks meaning however, the younger girl had called back to her. "Professor Goodwitch!" Ruby cheered before once again turning into a blur of motion. Glynda didn't even have time to react before the blur had slammed into her chest and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Miss Rose, what do you think you are doing!?" Glynda shouted as she tried to pull the small girl off of her.

Seeming to ignore Glynda's protests, Ruby only gripped tighter before speaking in a shaky voice. "Thank goodness you're okay."

This gave Glynda pause, she wasn't use to her students showing such open affection towards her, let alone genuine concern. And as much as she was loathed to admit it, she wasn't really sure how to handle such a situation. After a moment of consideration, she simply placed a comforting hand on the younger girl's shoulder and let it rest there for a moment. Then once Ruby had finally calmed down slightly, Glynda directed the girl's gaze upward to meet her own. "Of course I'm okay. Now then, Miss Rose, I need you to tell me what's going on here."

"You don't know?" Ruby asked cautiously.

"I have some idea, but I don't have very many details." Glynda explained.

Ruby gave her teacher a small nod before beginning to speak a mile a minute. Despite Ruby's long winded explanation, Glynda did managed to gain some insight into the situation. As she had suspected, something was happening to people while they slept that was preventing them from waking up again. And this strange condition seemed to be affecting nearly everyone in the kingdom. "And so until we figure this out, they are having us gathering everyone in the amphitheater. That way we can keep an eye on them." She said as she pointed towards the building in question.

Glynda gave a nod before asking another question. "You said 'they' told you to do this, who is this 'they'?"

"Oh sorry, I meant the other teachers." Ruby said with a nervous laugh.

The mention of her coworkers seemed to catch Glynda's attention. She hadn't really thought about them since her mind was more focused on her students, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't concerned about them. "So you're saying that the other teachers are already here on campus?" She asked curiously. It wasn't that she was too surprised to hear that there were other staff-members awake, since it was Ozpin who had called her here in the first place after all. She was however slightly surprised by the fact that they had managed to arrive there before her. "Who else is here, Miss Rose?"

Ruby gave a quick nod before she answered. "Yeah, let me see. There is Dr. Oobleck, Professor Port, and Nurse Kitsune. That is it as far as I'm aware of." She said as she counted them off on her fingers.

Glynda found it slightly odd that Ruby didn't list Ozpin among those present. She thought that perhaps he was just busy with other matters and hadn't shown himself yet. She also remembered the fact that he told her that he wanted her to look after things here which suggested he wouldn't be able to himself. Glynda couldn't help but feel a touch of annoyance at that idea. What could be more important than the well being of the students they were charged to protect? Glynda let those thoughts be pushed to the back of her mind for now so she could address the matter at hand. "You seem to be organized, who is in charge right now?" She asked.

That question seemed to make Ruby look a bit nervous and Glynda wasn't sure why until she answered. "Umm, Professor Port I guess." She responded with a mirthless chuckle.

"I see well, wait what!? Why is Port in charge!?" Glynda shouted, causing the younger girl to jump and let out a yelp. Realizing her mistake, Glynda quickly forced herself to calm down before speaking in a much more proper manner. "My apologies, I just figured Oobleck would do it.

"Well, Professor Port kind of nominated himself for the position and nobody tried to stop him. He has been doing an alright job, but I am happy to see that you're here now." Ruby explained shyly.

Well that explained the excitement from earlier. "Hmm, I see. Well no sense in standing around out here, let's go see what we can do." Glynda stated as she began to once again make her way towards the amphitheater and directed Ruby to follow along.

"Yes, Miss Goodwitch!" Ruby chirped as she followed suit.

After Ruby and Glynda had begun walking toward the amphitheater together, an awkward silence seemed to form between the two. Usually Glynda would have found silence preferable next to Ruby's seemingly endless chattering. However, on this day, the girl's silence just felt unnatural and that unsettled her, so Glynda search for a topic to fill the void. That was when she noticed that the smaller girl was currently hoisting a small black and red backpack over her shoulder. And the bag in question seemed to be about ready to burst from how much was stuffed inside it. Glynda figured it was as good a topic as any other. "Miss Rose." Glynda began.

Ruby jumped a little at the sound of her teacher's voice and that told Glynda that her student was far more on edge then she had thought. "Ye-yes, Miss Goodwitch?"

Glynda let out a tired sigh before she spoke again. "Relax child, I was merely curious as to what you are carrying around in that backpack? I don't usually see you carrying one in class."

"Oh, umm hold on!" Ruby said as she pulled the backpack from her shoulder and unzipped it to reveal its contents.

Glynda glanced down at the bags contents and felt her eyebrow shoot up when she did. The bag was filled to the brim with nothing but caffeinated beverages and sugary snacks. "Miss Rose, what is all of this?" She asked.

Then Ruby pulled the bag close to her chest and began to speak in a much more subdued tone. "Everyone is really tired. I figured that this would give them a little more energy."

When Glynda heard these words she was suddenly reminded of the weight of the situation. How long could a person go without rest on willpower alone? She had pulled many all nighters in her lifetime, but usually never consecutively. Realizing just how limited time was she picked up the pace slightly. "Then let's not keep them waiting, Miss Rose."

"Yes!" Ruby declared as she jogged after her teacher.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Beacon Academy Second Year Dorms 2:49am

All things considered for the VY of Team CFVY, the day had past without much difficulty. Even though two had a bit of a disagreement with their teammates, it was clear to Yatsuhashi that his partner was ready to forgive their hot headed leader. And it was confident to the both of them that Coco would see the error of her ways and come around eventually.

Yatsuhashi's partner Velvet also seemed to feel the same way as he did. She was still a little angry with her leader of course, and she very much wanted to see Coco taking better care of herself, but she didn't want the team to go on break on such a sour note like this. With that in mind, she had decided to stay up later than she usually did in hopes of catching their teammates once they finally returned from Vale.

However, much to Velvet's dismay, it was already nearly 3am and there was still no sign of Coco and Fox's return, but she stayed vigilant. She was keeping herself busy with a book she had recently borrowed from Blake of team RWBY. Blake had given it quite a high recommendation, and Velvet had to admit that it was quite an interesting read. It was about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body.

Velvet couldn't help but draw comparisons between the main character in the book and her leader. One of the main character's personalities was bold, fun loving, and brash, much like how Coco is amongst close friends and while under the influence of alcohol. While the other was cold, clever, and calculating, much like Coco is on the battlefield. Neither of the two personalities was satirically good or evil. However, they required balance between the two for them to become a proper functioning person, and the more control one side claimed, the more unstable they became as a result.

Whatever that all really meant was currently lost on the tired faunus though. It was about all Velvet could do to just sit up in her bed and lazily flip through the pages of her book. And she was forced to stop every few minutes to stifle a yawn. After the most recent of which she looked up from her book towards the only source of light that was currently in the room. The light in question was being emitted from a small desk lamp sat on top of the night stand beside her bed. Though the light was on its lowest setting and was relatively quite dim, her eyes were becoming too sensitive to bare it.

The eyes of a rabbit were naturally quite sensitive to light, and unfortunately for Velvet they were one of the many faunus traits she had inherited from her parents. It was unfortunate because, while her eyes had fairly good visibility during the twilight hours of the morning and evening, her eyes were more of a hindrance during the day, and despite common belief, a rabbit's night vision was no better than that of the average human's. Because of that, she had little choice but to leave the light on if she wanted to continue to read her book and fend off sleep's embrace.

The only question was whether she wanted to continue to fight on or call it a night in hopes that she could just patch things up in the morning. As Velvet felt another yawn spring forth from within her, she began to lean towards the ladder. Before she could allow that, however, she set her book aside and retrieved her scroll from the night stand. She had to squint her eyes as she turned on the scroll and glanced at the bright screen before her, looking for any sign of her friends contacting here. And like the last ten times she had done this, there was nothing. No missed calls or unread messages.

Velvet had thought about just calling them herself, but ultimately decided against it. Considering the late hour, the chances that they might have rented a hotel and were already in bed was quite high. And though she certainly didn't want to wake them, she was even more worried about possibly interrupting a far more private moment. That thought reminded Velvet of a time back during their first year at Beacon. She didn't even know that Coco and Fox had gotten together at the time, and she had made the mistake of ignoring the tie they had placed on the doorknob.

Sparing the graphic details, let's just say that Velvet had seen something that day that she will likely never be able to un-see, and it had messed her up for days afterward. She couldn't even speak to Fox or Coco without getting red in the face, and Coco's teasing certainly didn't help. As a matter of fact, the situation didn't improve until Yatsu finally put his foot down and made the couple agree to a few ground rules. Most of which were in regards to what was and wasn't considered an appropriate use of the dorm room. Of course, Coco was fairly angry about it at the time, it even looked like her and Yatsu might come to blows over it. However, they never did and though Coco never openly agreed to Yatsu's terms, there had not been a repeat incident from that point onward. Velvet still suspected that Coco and Fox used the room on occasion, but they were at least being careful about it.

"Ugh, what am I thinking about right now?" Velvet asked herself before letting out a tried groan and slumping back onto her bed and pressing the palms of her hands over her eyes to block the light.

Then Velvet's rabbit ears perked up when she heard the sound of movement outside her dorm room door, and her whole body quickly sprang up when the door began to swing open. However, Velvet quickly deflated once again when she realized it was just her partner returning to the room. He had left about hour earlier for some late night training and it was evident by the sweat soaked towel draped over his shoulders. "Oh, it's just you." She deadpanned as she slid back down on her bed.

Yatsuhashi raised an eyebrow at that greeting before speaking in the most sarcastic tone he could manage. "Good evening to you too, partner."

"I didn't mean it like that Yatsu, I'm sorry." Velvet apologized.

"All is forgiven." Yatsuhashi said as he let out a light chuckle and pushed further into the room towards his own bed and began pulling out clothing from small chest beside it. "I'm guessing you haven't heard from those two?" He asked without turning to face his partner.

"Nope." Velvet deadpanned, causing Yatsuhashi to simply grunt and nod his understanding. "How was your work out?" She asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"Hot, you can really tell that spring has arrived." Yatsuhashi responded as he finished assembling a small piling of clothes and he had turned to face his partner. "I think I'm going to get a quick bath in before bed, you need in there before I do?"

Velvet found herself glancing over towards the bathroom door as if it might hold the answer, and then after a short moment she turned back to her partner to respond. "Na love, I should be good."

Yatsuhashi gave his partner a quick nod before turning away and heading towards the bathroom, stopping for a brief moment before entering. "You should try to get some sleep, I doubt they will be back any time tonight and you will need your energy for tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know what you're saying, but," Velvet began before getting interrupted by Yatsuhashi.

"Tell me, what do you know about the soul?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"Huh, what are you on about?" Velvet asked in a confused tone.

Yatsuhashi turned to shoot his partner a smirk as he went on. "The soul is fragile. Everyone feels fear, uncertainty, and anxiety, however, we try to mask these emotions because they make us feel weak. We distract ourselves from them in hopes they will disappear. For some, they throw themselves into their work, exhausting all of their energy so they have none left to think. While some try to find solace in their connections to others, either joining a faith or forming bonds of love and friendship. And then of course, there are those who can only find release from their negative thoughts through less respectable means, means such as drugs, sex, and alcohol. However, it's important to remember that any of these things in excess can inflict harm upon your soul, and not just the ladder. If you work yourself too hard, then you will lose sight of yourself and your own needs, and if you rely on others too much, then you will become dependant on them. You will lose the ability to function on your own."

"Is this some sort of round about way of telling me I need to relax?" Velvet inquired.

Yatsuhashi shrugged before responding. "If that's what you take away from it, then yes."

Velvet let out a light laugh. "Fine, I guess you're right." She admitted before she set her book and scroll on her night stand and flicked off the light. "Goodnight, Yatsu."

"Goodnight Vel, see you in the morning." Yatsuhashi responded before finally slipping into the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

After that, the next few minutes passed in relative silence. The only noise that could be heard was the faint sound of Velvet breathing as she slumbered, and the hiss of a shower head emanating from the bathroom. Then a set of faint lights appeared in the darkness of the room. The scroll Velvet had set aside and her partner's which he had left on his bed before heading to the bath were now aglow, and a robotic voice soon followed. "Warning, this is a Kingdom wide emergency, do not fall asleep. This message will repeat."

This message continued to repeat for several more minutes unnoticed, Velvet did not stir, and her partner did not hear. And then once the message had finally ceased, the scrolls erupted once again. The two screens flashed the names Fox and Coco respectively before switching back and forth over and over again.

Yatsuhashi's shower had lasted for about thirty minute,s and when he finally turned off the shower head and began to towel off is when he finally heard the disturbance coming from the other room. "That must them." He stated as a matter of fact. Though he did find it strange that they would only just now be contacting them, he didn't think much of it at the time and so he took a moment to finish drying and dressing himself before stepping out to check on his scroll.

After activating his scroll, Yatsuhashi quickly noticed that he did indeed have a missed call from his teammate, Fox. However, after a quick glance at his history he realized something was a miss. He had about seven more missed calls between Fox and Coco from the last half hour alone. That wasn't normal, no matter how he looked at it and he was about to call back when it began to ring on its own. The name Fox once again displayed itself across the screen. Yatsuhashi was stunned for a moment, caught off guard by the abruptness of it, but he quickly shook it off and pressed the answer button. As soon as he had a familiar yet strangely uncertain voice entered his ear. "Hello?"

"Fox? What's going on, did something happen?" Yatsuhashi inquired. The concern evident even in his tone.

"Yatsuhashi!?" He heard the almost joyous voice of his teammate cheer from the other side. "Man, you have no idea how happy I am to hear your voice!"

"Why, what's going on? Are you and Coco okay?" Yatsuhashi asked, eager to get some answers.

"Yeah, Coco and I are just fine. More importantly, where is Velvet!? Is she okay!? Is she with you!?" Fox shouted, all of the joy instantly seeming to be replaced by concern and uncertainty.

Yatsuhashi glanced back over to his partner who seemed to be sleeping peacefully and then replied. "Yeah, she is with me. She is resting, but is just fine."

"Oh," Fox said before going completely silent. The only noise coming from the other end was what sounded like Coco having a meltdown. Then, after what seemed like forever Fox's voice returned, only it was much more muted, almost somber. "Yatsu, is she breathing?"

Yatsuhashi wasn't sure what he had expected to hear, but he was taken aback by this question. He couldn't understand why she wouldn't be. She was perfectly fine not half an hour ago, and nothing should have changed since then. However, a thought then accrued to him, the thought being why his partner hadn't been awoken by the sound of his scroll going off for half an hour. With that thought poisoning his mind, he ran over to his partner's side to check her vitals. Something was wrong, he could tell. Her breath was unsteady and he could sense that her aura levels were dropping.

After his inspection, he pressed his scroll back up to his ear and spoke the next few words with urgency. "Fox, tell me everything you know."

////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Beacon Academy Amphitheater 4:10am

Finally, once Glynda and Ruby had managed to weave their way through the crowd of panicked students who were rushing back and forth through the entrance, they had entered the Amphitheater proper. And now that Glynda was inside, she suddenly found herself stunned and in awe of what she found there.

Of course Glynda being a teacher of this academy and having used it many times herself, she knew the Amphitheater better than most. The room was a wide open space designed to host large crowds and was primarily used for mission assignments and giving speeches. On this day however, it had gone through a complete transformation. In what had to have been a matter of mere hours, the whole space had been converted into a makeshift hospital ward. Along each of its walls a line of mattresses had been laid and each mattress was either already hosting an unconscious student, or was currently being prepped to receive one. And on top of that, they had even repurposed the shower curtains from their dorm rooms to create dividers between many of the beds. A step that was likely taken to insure the unconscious student's privacy in the event that they needed to have their clothes changed.

Looking at what her students and coworkers had been able to do in such a short amount of time had made Glynda feel a great sense of pride well up from inside of her, but she forced it back down for the time being. She figured she would have more than enough time to be proud once she was sure her students were safe. "Did Professor Port really organize all of this?" She inquired skeptically.

Ruby shrugged her shoulders before responding. "I guess he kind of did." She stated, causing Glynda to give the girl a look that said she wanted more. "I mean, I don't really know all the details, but from what I heard, it was actually Nurse Kitsune's idea originally. Or at least she came up with something similar, but apparently Oobleck and Port didn't completely agree with a few of the details and so Professor Port decided to just take the framework of the idea and just make the plan his own."

Glynda hummed her understanding before speaking once again. "Well I guess it goes to show, you should never underestimate the resourcefulness of a trained huntsman. Even if that huntsman just so happens to be Peter Port." This offhanded comment of hers seemed to elicit a giggle from her red hooded student, and when Glynda glanced down at the younger girl to confirm it, she was pleased to see that tension in Ruby's posture had finally faded somewhat.

Then Ruby seemed to stall in her tracks as her eyes flicked across the room like she was in search of something. And she must have spotted what she was looking for, since her eyes had then become laser focused on something towards the center of the room. Curious as to what her companion was so interested in, Glynda followed the girl's eyes, and when she did her eyes soon fell upon a familiar group her students. The other three members of team RWBY along with the JNP of team JNPR and a small red haired girl she didn't recognize were all sat together in a circle.

"My team is over there, I want to go check in with them. Is that alright?" Ruby asked.

"Of course, Miss Rose, don't let me hold you back." Glynda responded as she waved her hand in a shooing fashion. With that, Ruby gave her a quick bow before she rushed off to join her friends.

Then once the energetic girl was out of earshot, Glynda allowed herself another small sigh before she directed her attention to a grouping of curtains set up towards the center of the room. They seemed to be arranged in such a way that they formed walls and cut off a small area of the room from view. As far as she could tell the makeshift structure only had one opening between the curtains large enough to allow somebody to pass through, and it was on the side facing towards the entrance to the Amphitheater. Becoming curious, she moved closer and peered through the opening. When she did, she found that she could just barely make out the rounded form of her coworker, Peter Port. And the man looked like he was discussing something with someone else who was just out of view.

With her objective in sight, Glynda quickly marched across the remaining distance while trying her best to ignore the wide eyed looks her students were giving her as she passed them. As she drew closer she began to filter out the white noise of the busy room and could now hear the sound of familiar voices yelling over top of each other. Hearing this, she picked up her pace and quickly reached the opening in the curtains.

When Glynda pushed her way inside, she was greeted by the sight of what appeared to be a meeting room of some sort, with a small table in the center and stacks of books scattered throughout the space on one side and medical equipment on the other. Peter Port was stood at the head of the table while Dr. Oobleck and Kitsune their on site nurse sat opposite him in a set of fold out chairs. When Glynda walked inside, it became instantly apparent that she had walked in on her coworkers while they were engaged in a heated argument of some kind.

"No, no, no, we can not abandon the people in their hour of need. We must assemble our forces and go face the enemy at once!" Port declared as he slammed his right fist into the palm of his left hand.

Oobleck let out a frustrated groan before retorting with. "How many times do we need to explain to you that we don't even know who the enemy is? How are we to face them?"

"Nonsense! Only creatures as foul as the Grimm could cause such a catastrophe! With my expert tracking skills, I am sure I will be able to locate the beasts responsible for this and cut them down, but we must move before it's too late!" Port retorted.

Then Dr. Oobleck removed his glasses and slumped over the table rubbing the bridge of his nose. After a moment of this, he glanced up towards the Fox faunus across from him with pleading eyes. "Miss Kitsune, can I get some help here?"

"That is Nurse Kitsune to you, Bart." The faunus corrected, causing Oobleck to groan once again.

Kitsune, the foxy nurse of Beacon Academy had always been slightly, for lack of a better term, abrasive when interacting with others. However, she generally maintained a certain degree of professionalism when interacting with the other members of the staff, which really just meant that her verbal barbs would be kept at a minimum. Though there was one staff member that she was especially catty with, and that was none other than Dr. Oobleck. The good Doctor knew full well why Kitsune acted this way with him of course. The cause dated back to their very first meeting when he had made the grave mistake of correcting her after she had called him Professor Oobleck, rather than his proper title of Doctor. And now Kitsune seems to make rubbing that mistake in his face at every given opportunity her personal mission in life.

Could Oobleck simply apologize and put an end to this childish game of theirs? Possibly, though he has never actually tried to do so. He could be just as stubborn as the fox faunus after all. He also wouldn't normally have let it go this time either, but the situation was far too critical and they just didn't have time for their game today. "Please, Nurse Kitsune." Oobleck said in a pleading tone.

In response to Oobleck's pleads, Kitsune allowed the edges of her mouth to curl up into a small smile before speaking again in a condescending tone. "Very well, Bart," She said as she shifted in her chair, switching the positions of her legs which had been crossed before focusing on Peter Port. "Peter, while I can understand where you are coming from, I don't believe a witch hunt is the best course of action at this time. There is still too little we know about whatever this is. It could very well be caused by the Grimm, but what kind of Grimm could cause this kind of damage over night? Also, if such a Grimm does exist, how come we haven't encountered them before now? In my expert opinion, this is far more likely to be the work of some sort viral outbreak."

"Preposterous, tiny germs couldn't possibly defeat the magnificent students of Beacon Academy! Why I remember once when I was a young huntsman just starting out," Port began, causing his two co-workers to groan in exasperation, the two of them able to sense that Peter was about to launch them into one of his long winded tall tales. Port ignored their obvious discomfort however and continued to speak with gusto. "You see, every member of my family was stricken with a terrible flu all at once. Their conditions left them bedridden, and it persisted for days on end. This not only left me all alone to fend for myself, but it also left me as the only one capable to look after them as they recovered. However, I persevered and through sheer force of will, I-"

Peter's rant was finally interrupted by the sound of a light coughing coming from the direction of the entrance to their little meeting room. On instinct, Oobleck, Port, and Kitsune directed their gaze towards the source of the noise, and their eyes widened slightly upon finding none other than Glynda Goodwitch. Despite the stern glare the blond huntress was directing at them, they couldn't help but feel elated to see their coworker alive and well. And Oobleck was the first to vocalize this sentiment when he jumped up out of his seat and spoke. "Glynda, you're here!"

"Yes, I am. It's good to see you are well, Bart." Glynda responded before giving a nod to her other two coworkers. "Peter, Kitsune, it is also good to see that the two of you are faring well."

"Of course, lass, why wouldn't I be!?" Port declared before breaking into a hearty chuckle.

"Out of curiosity, how long have you been standing there?" Kitsune inquired.

Glynda shrugged before responding. "I would say long enough to get the gist of things." She said before directing her attention to the rest of the room and continuing to speak. "From what I have gathered so far, you've all been made aware of the dire situation the kingdom is currently in and you are currently trying to identify the cause and find a solution. Is this correct?"

When the rest of the room gave Glynda their affirmatives, she pressed on; she needed to get more information and she didn't have time to waste. "Good, we need to make sure we are all on the same page. First off, who else among the staff is still with us?"

All hopes Glynda had of having more hands to work with were dashed the moment her question was met by the grim stares of her coworkers. The three of them were silent for a brief moment but Port finally worked up the nerve to speak. "As far as we are aware, we are all that is left, my dear."

Glynda tried not to sound as stricken as she felt as she spoke again. "Oh I see, but what about Professor Peach and Headmaster Ozpin?"

Dr. Oobleck spoke this time. "I am afraid Peach is out of commission, they are currently taking up one of the mattresses in the back of this very room. Needless to say, but they won't be of much help to us for the time being." After saying this, the Professor took a moment to turn towards a coffee maker set up directly behind him and began pouring himself a freshly brewed cup of coffee. Once he had finished the task and took a long sip from his mug, he turned back to Glynda and began to speak once again. "As for Ozpin, we could find neither hide nor hair of him. We searched his office, the staff room, and his private quarters here on campus. We have even tried to contact him several times using both the campus PA system, and his personal scroll number. If he is awake, he is not here."

That certainly was a surprise to Glynda, though it would explain why Miss Rose didn't list Ozpin among the staff. Then something accrued to her. "Wait, you mean you haven't heard from him at all?" They all gave her a nod in response. "Then how did all of you know to come here? Did he warn you about the situation?" She inquired causing them all to shake their heads. "Then why are all of you awake?"

"I was filing paper work here on campus and lost track of time." Oobleck replied with a shrug.

"I was out for my usual evening hunt in the emerald forest! If it weren't for that kingdom wide alert, I would likely still be out there." Port replied.

Glynda felt like those responses made sense seeing who was giving them, so she directed her gaze down to the last member of their group. "And you, Kitsune?" She asked.

"I was just enjoying the evening air on campus. I am nocturnal, you know?" Kitsune countered.

Glynda raised an eyebrow at Kitsune's response; it almost seemed like the faunus was withholding something. Though she decided that could wait for the time being and she began listing off things that she would need to get started. "Kitsune, I will need all the medical reports you have compiled so far. Bart, pour a cup of coffee for me, and Peter," She said turning towards her last coworker and pausing for a moment in thought. "I want you to see if you can contact the other kingdoms. We need to know how far this thing goes." Then she clapped her hands together and everyone went to their tasks. Things may have been bad, but she could still do this. They still had time.

///////////////////////////////////

#### Vale City Docks 4:15am

Emerald's trek from the dorms of Beacon Academy down to the group's hideout near the Vale city docks had taken her far longer than she had originally thought it would. There were many good reasons for this substantial delay, of course. One such reason was due to the state of the city itself. Just as she had predicted, the streets were chaos. And despite most of the city's populace becoming bedridden only a short time ago, there were still dozens of civilians running through the streets in a state of panic. Some were simply trying to find some help, and others did what they could to aid them. While others much like herself seen opportunity. The latter of which was currently in the process of looting from shops, cards, and homes while the others pulled stunned bystanders aside to indulge in their more basic of instincts.

Worst of all was the fact that the very same scene was being played out in just about every direction Emerald had bothered to look. She felt like it should have been discussed that these people had given into their selfish desires so quickly. However, she knew first hand the cruelties of man and faunus alike and just how quickly they could turn on each other when faced with crisis. With all that in mind, she had to move through the city as quickly and quietly as possible. She often had to halt and wait for crowds to pass before proceeding which cost her a lot of valuable time, but not as much as she would have likely lost in a pointless fight.

The second reason was one Emerald was slightly ashamed to admit. And that was due to the unforeseen difficulties actually getting down from the Beacon plateau into the city proper. Usually, the bullheads that carried the students to and from would run throughout the night to allow students to leave for or return from their missions as soon as possible. After all, what good was a huntsman if they couldn't get to the threat in a timely fashion?

Emerald had miscalculated, however. She should've known from the start that the air docks would be shut down with how everything was going to shit down below. She should have been prepared to handle this set back, but unfortunately she wasn't, and there wasn't much she could have done about it either. She had of course considered the option of just breaking into the docks and hijacking one of the bullheads, but she ultimately dismissed the idea. Sure, she wouldn't have had any trouble hot wiring one the crafts, but she didn't actually know how to pilot one of those flying junk piles so it wouldn't have done her any good. Besides, she wanted to avoid drawing attention to herself until she got a feel for the situation, and she was fairly sure stealing and most likely crashing a bullhead in the middle of downtown Vale would draw attention.

With flying off the table, Emerald had no choice but to scale down the cliff face and cut through the Emerald Forest to save time. Of course even that proved to be more difficult than she would have liked. This time it was the creatures of Grimm that caused her issues, however. Normally, she wouldn't have any trouble dealing with a couple of Grimm and that still held true. The problem was that it wasn't just one or two Grimm, but rather she ended up needing to fight her way through several hordes of the beasts before reaching the forest's edge. It was another miscalculation on her part. She knew that Grimm were naturally more active at night, but she hadn't accounted for all the extra negativity lingering in the air. If she was feeling such fear and anxiety, surely the helpless masses would be nearing hysteria shortly. Because of that, the Grimm were literally coming out of the woodwork.

By the time Emerald had finally arrived at the warehouse where Neopolitan was meant to meet her, it was already over half an hour past the time she had given her companion. Not that punctuality was generally a big concern for her, unless of course Cinder was the one requesting her presence. However, she was well aware of Neo's whimsical nature. The multicolored murderous was known to become bored easily and had a bad habit of wandering off in the middle of a job when she found it uninteresting. Seeing as how Neo could very well be the only ally Emerald had left in Vale, this fact made Emerald reasonably a bit nervous. With that said, there was nothing the master thief could do about time she had already lost, so she didn't want to waste any more time thinking about what she could have done.

Once Emerald had forced her negative thoughts back down from whence they came, she had made it to the back entrance of the warehouse. A quick tug on the door handle, however, nearly caused her to have a brain aneurism. The door was locked up tight, and only now did she realize that she didn't have a key for this location.

"For the love of Monty, what's wrong with me today!?" Emerald roared in frustration as she delivered a kick to the metal door that left a dent in the metal but otherwise left it intact. Then she took a moment to breathe deep and calm herself down. "It's okay, one locked door is nothing." She said to reassure herself before she fished into her pocket to retrieve a set of picking tools and quickly went to pick the lock.

Picking the lock was an easy enough task for Emerald, of course. The whole process couldn't have taken more than a few seconds, surely not enough to make or break this meeting. And the fact that her skills were still so sharp should have even been reassuring as well, but she couldn't help but think it was too easy. The thought that their hideout could be so easily infiltrated only made her feel more vulnerable. She couldn't dwell on it though, so she made a mental note to bring up the security problem with Cinder if, no, when she woke up, and pressed on.

After securing the door behind her, Emerald made her way deeper into the warehouse and into a large open room usually used to store cargo before it shipped elsewhere. Right now the room was scarcely occupied. Only a few medium sized crates littered the space, and much to Emerald's dismay there was no sign of her comrade. "Neo? Neo, are you here!?" She asked aloud, but she was met with only muted echoes.

That seemed to be all the thief could take, however, and she began to explode. "Of course not, fuck my life! Could this day get any worse! I mean really, first I had to put up with Mercury's shit all day, and then there was that stupid party! Who could have guessed that the drunken version of Mercury would be even more annoying than the sober version!? Don't even get my started on the sleeping fiasco! Seriously how can this day-" Emerald's rant was cut when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. On instinct she reached for her weapons and pulled them free from their holsters. Now her eyes were once again roving over the warehouse, only instead of searching for an ally they were scanning for any signs of a possible enemy intruder.

With baited breath, Emerald waited in a fighting stance. Everything in the room seemed to be still now. She could see no movement, and it was unsettlingly quiet. With the warehouse resting on the outskirts of city, the chaos of the main streets was little more than a distance whisper. After a few more seconds of nothing happening, Emerald was about ready write this up as being her sleep deprived and stress ridden mind playing tricks on her, but then there was a slight disturbance in the air. Emerald felt it was ever so slight, little more than a mild breeze passing by her, but she knew better than to ignore it. Her gut told her that she needed to move and she listened.

In the blink of an eye Emerald spun around one-hundred and eighty degrees while raising her weapon in its gun from to fire at the cloaked figured that now stood directly behind her. Responding just as quickly, the cloaked figured snapped their wrist to draw a small blade and instantly deflected the round before spinning in place and smacking the barrel of Emerald's weapon, knocking her weapon off target. Emerald tried to correct its course, but the cloaked figure quickly stepped forward into Emerald's guard. With her enemy within striking distance, it was all that the thief could do to watch as their blade gleamed in the dim light of the room and rose up to bury itself in her throat.

Emerald didn't scream as the blade cut through her trachea, she merely gasped in muted horror as she grasped desperately at the new whole in her throat. As she staggered backwards on weak legs, her weapons clattered to the floor forgot.

The cloaked figure watched this gruesome scene with a sinister grin twisting their features. However, their grin suddenly fell away when the crumpled form of Emerald seemed to vanish into thin air and almost simultaneously the sound of a gunshot rang out from directly behind them.

A spent shell casing clattered against to the floor at Emerald's feet from her new position a few feet directly behind her attacker. It was a close call, but she had managed to just narrowly avoid her enemy's attack and activate her semblance to leave an illusion in her place. She had allowed her enemy to think they had beaten her, so they would let their guard down, and it had paid off. They left their back wide open and Emerald put a round right in their spine. Even if it didn't kill them right out, the shock alone would be enough to incapacitate them, so it was her win. Or at least it would have if their body didn't shatter like glass right after the bullet had struck.

"What, crap!" Emerald hissed as she spun around once more to suddenly find herself in a deadlock with her opponent, their blade was once again pressed up against Emerald's throat while another was poking her in the gut. On the other hand, Emerald had her opponent in a similar situation with one gun directly under her opponent's chin and the other had shifted into its sickle form and was threatening to disembowel her attacker if they made a move.

Despite the deadlock, neither party seemed to be worried any longer though. Rather, the look on Emerald's face was nothing less than annoyed, while the other seemed elated. After a moment of neither making a move, Emerald let out a tired sigh before withdrawing her weapons. "I don't care for your games, Neo." Emerald declared dryly as she took a step back.

The other party didn't respond. Instead, they merely removed the hood of their cloak to reveal a set of mismatched eyes and a multicolored head of hair. Then they raised their head to give Emerald a condescending grin.

"I could have killed you, you know that, right!?" Emerald roared in frustration.

Again the girl known as Neo did not respond. She merely tilted her head and gave Emerald an incredulous look, as if to say the very idea was ridiculous.

"We don't have time for this, Neo!" Emerald warned.

The other girl looked annoyed now and demonstrated this by stomping her foot down on the floor before beginning to pace back and forth before finally stopping in front of Emerald to point down at her wrist watch. Then she puffed up her cheeks and folded her arms over her petite chest.

All of this seemed to mean something to Emerald since she then responded with. "Look, I know that I was late! I ran into some set backs okay, that doesn't mean you can just attack me out of the blue like that!" Neo just rolled her mismatched eyes and showed no other response. Figuring that was the best she was going to get out of the girl, Emerald moved on. "So can you introduce me to those contacts now?"

Neo didn't seem too interested and just folded her arms tighter around her slender form and stuck up her nose.

After groaning in frustration, Emerald spoke again, this time in a more calm and collected manner. "Fine, I'm sorry for making you wait for so long. As an apology, I will get you as much ice-cream as you want, but only once we get this thing done. Will that make you happy?" She asked, and it seemed so since Neo instantly nodded in agreement before hooking her arm around Emerald's and leading her forward out of the warehouse and back out onto the streets.

/////////////////////////////////////////

#### Beacon Academy Amphitheater 6:30am

"So you're saying she was just gone?" Weiss asked her blond teammate.

"Yeah, Em was taking awhile and I couldn't get through on my scroll, so I went to her dorm room to check up on her, but she was just gone. Also her other teammate, the one with the black twintails, whose name escapes me, wasn't there either. I can only assume that the two of them ran off somewhere together." Yang explained.

"Seems like a reasonable conclusion." Blake added.

"So is that why we are looking after her?" Ruby asked as she pointed one of the many mattresses that surrounded their group. A woman with long raven black hair slept on top of it. To those who recognized the motionless woman, they would all call her Cinder Fall. To the students of Beacon, that name was just that of another huntress in training there to fight in the tournament, but to the rest of the world it was a name that struck terror into the hearts of the people. One of team RWBY's greatest enemies, and a dangerous criminal mastermind was now completely at their mercy and they had no idea.

"Yeah, speaking of which, how are you guys holding up?" Yang asked as she directed everyone's attention towards the rest of their group. Ren was lying down in a bed beside Cinder, Velvet, and three members of team SSSN. It seemed like none of Sun's team had been lucky enough to be awake at the start of all of this expect Scarlet who was up late gaming. Now along with Yatsuhashi of team CFVY and the JNP of team JNPR, they were all working together to look after their incapacitated comrades while they awaited word from their Professors on what they should do from here.

"Well we're still awake, so there's that at least." Jaune responded. It was clear that he was trying to sound reassuring, but the exhaustion in his voice was hard to miss. Despite that, most of the group nodded in agreement.

"Seriously though, how long does it take to come up with a plan? We can't just sit here twiddling our thumbs like this!" Yang complained.

"Calm yourself, Yang, it won't do us any good wasting energy like that." Blake warned.

"Yeah, I know, but we don't have a whole lot of time here! We can't wait around for an answer that might never come. Maybe we should go investigate these matters ourselves." Yang argued.

"Because our personal investigates always work out so well." Blake quipped.

That statement caused Yang to give her partner a long hard look. "I figured you would be the first person on board with this, Blake. What gives?" She asked.

"It's just that we don't have anything to go off of, Yang. Where would we start such an investigation?" Blake asked, causing the blonde brawler to take pause.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually inclined to agree with Yang." Weiss cut in, causing the rest of the group to shoot her a surprised look. "Don't look at me like that, it's just that time is of the essence here. If we don't do something while we can, then we might not be able to do anything at all later. And right now, I know that there are people in Vale who could use some help."

That seemed to be all the motivation the other girls of team RWBY needed as they gave a nod. "So we're in agreement, then? We're going into Vale to gather intelligence and help out where we can?" Ruby inquired to her team who again gave their affirmatives. "Alright, then prepare to move out, team!" She commanded.

"Are we leaving?" A voice asked from behind the red hooded leader causing her to jump slightly before spinning around to see Penny carrying a sleeping student on each shoulder while grasping a bag of supplies in her hands.

"Penny, your back. You startled me." Ruby stated.

"Greetings, friends. I have returned from my retrieval mission." The synthetic girl declared cheerfully.

"Yeah, we're going into the City to help out. Think you can come with us? I'm sure you will be a big help." Ruby asked.

Penny gave an instant nod. "Of course I will come with you!"

"Good, how about you guys? Think you can hold down the fort while we are gone?" Ruby asked the rest of the group.

"Hey don't you worry about us, just do whatever you got to do." Jaune replied.

"Good luck, stay safe." Pyrrha added.

"Thanks, you too." Ruby added before turning to gather up her equipment.

///////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Beacon Academy Main Avenue 6:50am

Team RWBY along with the Synthetic girl Penny were ready to set out, and had just stepped outside of the Amphitheater when they were suddenly struck by the rays of the morning sun that was just now peeking over the horizon.

"It's so pretty!" Penny cheered.

"It truly is." Weiss chimed in.

"Yeah, I guess." Yang stated dryly before drawing her sunglasses and snapping them in place.

"Hmm." Blake added thoughtfully.

Ruby was silent. With how the sun just barely peeked out over the plateau, it caused everything to cast a long shadow and made everything gleam with a simple brilliance. Normally, Ruby would have agreed with Penny and her team. She would agree that this was a beautiful sunrise, but she just couldn't. After all, this could be the last one that she would ever get to see, and that thought frightened her to the very core.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am too lazy to do end of chapter notes today, so I will let Neo handle it.
> 
> .- . .-.. .-.. / -.. - -. . / ..-. - .-. / .-. . .- -.. .. -. -. / - ... .. ... / .- ... / .- / .-. . .- .- .-. -.. / .. / .- .. .-.. .-.. / -. .. ...- . / -.- - ..- / .- / .-.. .. - - .-.. . / - .. .-. / .. ..-. / -.- - ..- / .-. . ...- .. . .- / - ... .. ... / -.-. ... .- .-. - . .-. / .- -. -.. / .-.. . .- ...- . / .-. . .- .-.. - / ... .-. - .. .-.. . .-. / .- - / - ... . / -... - - - - - / - ... . -. / .. / .- .. .-.. .-.. / -. .. ...- . / -.- - ..- / .- / ... -. . .- -.- / .-. .-. . ...- .. . .- / - ..-. / -.-. ... .- .-. - . .-. / -. .. -. .


	3. Day 2: Anger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so wow it has been awhile since I updated this one. Or updated anything at all. Sorry about that, been really busy, and this chapter was a bit of a nightmare. No pun intended lol. Really though, this was a hard chapter to write and I didn't get in everything that I wanted to put in, but I wanted to get it out. There might be a part two for this day, I'm not sure how I'm going to handle that. I will likely still keep this work at a max of 6 chapters though.
> 
> On another note, I did just post the first chapter of a new RWBY work called Judgement. It features team RWBY as the Four horsemen of the apocalypse and places them in a Darksiders themed world. If you have an itch for some dark action fantasy than look no further. Otherwise look forward to the next chapter of Realm of Remnant. I hope to get it out by next weekend.
> 
> As always please remember to leave your thoughts and feedback in the comments. It helps out a lot and lets me know that you care.
> 
> This story was proof read by MartunaMajor.
> 
> Shout out to Coeur Al'Aran for allowing me the use of one of their original characters. If you haven't read their RWBY works on Fanfiction.net you're missing out.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Day 5.

**City of Vale Central Park Day 2 4:00AM**

The sunlight that had been both a source of hope and of dread for the members of team RWBY for the better part of the day had since faded back over the horizon from which it came. The team along with Penny had spent nearly a whole day running about the city searching, for what they still weren’t entirely sure, but anything that could point them in the right direction would have sufficed. Unfortunately, they had no such luck. Even with all that frantic searching, not many leads turned up, and even the few that did emerge mostly turned out to be dead ends.

Though despite everything, team RWBY could at least take some solace in the fact that they were able to help a few people along the way. Whether it was fighting back Grimm that begun to push against the City’s weakening defenses, or putting the kibosh on the plans of a few opportunistic criminals, there was no shortage of work that needs doing. However, that was part of the problem. There was just too much chaos, too much for just the five of them to handle alone and nothing they were doing was getting them any closer to their end goal.

If team RWBY really wanted to make a difference here they would need to attack this problem at its source. That meant they needed a change of direction. That meant they needed information. Unfortunately, they came to find that their scrolls no longer worked. That meant all communication was down. They couldn’t contact any of their friends, or family, and worst of all, they couldn’t contact Beacon.

Feeling the need to check in with their comrades back at the Academy, team RWBY and Penny decided to call it a day and began heading back in the general direction of the Academy. Along the way they happened to come across a rather interesting rumor surrounding a nearby park and decided it was worth checking out.

Upon reaching the park in question, they didn’t notice any unusual activity. Though since it wouldn’t take them out of their way, they decided to press on and give the park a proper once over. After traversing about half of the park without finding anything, the group was about ready to call it.

“No hostiles detected.” Penny declared.

“Looks like nothing again.” Ruby said in a slightly dejected voice.

“Okay, I officially give up!” Yang groaned as she slumped down onto a park bench and sighed in exasperation.

“Yang, what are you doing!? Get up, women!” Weiss hissed as she marched up to growl down at her blond teammate.

“The rumor said there was White Fang activity in this area, but it’s a bust Weiss, there’s nothing here. Since it looks like we’ll be hoofing it back to Beacon after all, I just figured I would get a few minutes to rest first!” Yang explained in protest.

“Rest is the opposite of what you should be doing right now, you dunce! Remember what happened an hour ago when you took another minute to ‘rest’!?” Weiss snapped.

“If Penny hadn’t noticed and smacked you, we would be carrying you right now.” Blake chimed in.

“What she said.” Weiss said as she motioned to her black clad teammate.

Yang clicked her tongue and broke eye contact. “Thanks for reminding me, my jaw is still a little swore.” She said, causing the synthetic girl to issue an apology that Yang didn’t pay attention to. Instead she mumbled. “I will be more careful this time.”

“We don’t have the time for this! We’re only cutting through this park because it’s faster! It kind of defeats the whole point if we take a break, doesn’t it!?” Weiss retorted.

“And where are we in such a hurry to get to?” Yang inquired. “We’re just running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We need to stop wasting our energy and come up with a real plan.” She explained.

Weiss gave Yang one more glare but seemed to agree with her since she soon let out a sign before joining her on the bench. “Fine, do you have any other ideas?”

“Actually, I just remembered that I just so happen to know a guy here in town who might be able to help us out. He has a bit of a knack for gathering information. Assuming he’s still awake, and I would bet money that he is, we should be able to get some sort of lead from him.” Yang explained.

“Oh is that right? And where is this guy?” Weiss asked, now sounding curious.

“Well he is…” Yang began to speak when the sound of screams filled the air. They were currently on the western side of the park and the sounds were coming from the direction of the southern entrance.

“I am detecting about eight people towards the south. They are heading North, spreading out, no clear pattern.” Penny declared. “Shall I intercept?” She inquired.

Ruby gave a nod and drew forth her weapon, unfolding it into its proper scythe form. “Alright team, we have some work to do!”

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Vale City Park, it was a large and relatively well maintained park smack in the middle of the City’s Residential District. With its imported cherry blossom trees, marble fountains, mahogany benches, it was considered by most to be the most beautiful waste of taxpayer money in the history of the city. Though, people only complained jokingly since the park has always been one of only a few safe havens from the hustle and bustle that usually had the rest of the city in a stranglehold. Unfortunately that safe part only really applied on a normal day, and today was anything but normal.

On this day the usual hustle and bustle would have been far more comforting than the distant sounds of panic and combat that gripped the busier districts and the deeply unsettling silence that enveloped others. Of course those too were also preferable to the situation one young woman currently found herself in.

The woman was running barefoot through the park. She ignored the stone pathways that crisscrossed throughout the park and instead cut through the winding tree lines. Her shoes, a pair of high heels that she had worn the night before when she was out clubbing had long since been abandoned. She had tossed them in favor of speed and maneuverability, a decision that she had regretted at the time. Though, now that she found herself fleeing for her life it had become one of her most inspired.

The woman had come here with her friends and they had been attempting to cut through the park on their way to Saint Amber Hospital. Saint Amber is the largest hospital in the district and the second largest in the whole city. They had two reasons for going there, first was because they had heard it was under the control of the Atlas military. That meant armed guards and by extension safety from the rioters and Grimm that had begun spilling into the city from all directions drawn by the chaos and fear. The second was because they heard Saint Amber was working on a cure for whatever this epidemic was. Two birds with one stone. That is what they thought, but that had been a mistake.

Soon after the woman and her friends had entered the park they encountered the source of her current peril. It came in the form of men, about five of them in total and all in the unmistakable white masks of the White Fang. The men had been lying in wait near the park entrance and the moment the woman and her friends caught sight of them, the men had drawn knives and begun to chase after them. In the ensuing chaos, the woman had managed to shake off most of her pursuers, but had gotten separated from all of her friends in the process. So now she was all alone with one very persistent faunus hot on her tail.

“Help! Somebody, anybody, please help me!” The woman pleaded.

“Why are you running honey, I just want to have a little chat with you!” The masked man growled.

“Stay away from me you crazy freak!” The woman shouted back. It was clear she was trying to sound tough, but her fear was seeping through.

The masked man didn’t show any signs of backing down, but he did seem to be growing frustrated with the chase. So when the faunus spotted a loose stone about the size of his fist lying on the ground a few feet in front of him, he came up with an idea. Without even breaking his stride he kicked the stone up into the air for him to catch in his open hand. Then in one smooth motion he took one more step forward and pulled his arm back so he could assume a pitching stance before pelting the stone at the back of the woman’s head.

The faunus was not a professional pitcher, but it was not for lack of skill or effort. Rather it was more because of the fact that most teams were owned by humans and none of them would want to sign a faunus with a criminal record. Though none of that really matter anymore, what did matter is that he knew how to pitch and while a stone and a baseball were too very different things, his target was far larger than the average strike and the distance between them was nothing compared to the distance between home plate and the mound. It was almost too easy.

The faunus’ aim was true and the rock struck the woman with a meaty thud. So surprised she was by the sudden hot lance of pain emanating from the back of her skull that the woman lost complete control of her motor skills, her feet tripping over themselves as she face planted in the grass. Then after she had a second to presses the fact that she had been struck, she grasped at her throbbing head and began to scream in agony.

Satisfied that he had his prey right where he wanted her, the faunus slowed his stride. He took slow measured steps until he was standing over the downed woman. Then he drew his pocket knife and reached down with his free hand to grab the woman by the collar before yanking her up to stare into his hateful, yellow eyes.

The woman’s own blue eyes were now filled with unrestrained terror. “P-plea-se do-don’t.” The woman mumbled. The pain and horror was making it difficult for her to speak.

A twisted grin slowly made its way onto the faunus’ face before he spoke. “Please? Please what? You’ll have to speak up, human. Just because we have good hearing doesn’t mean we can understand you when you stutter like that.”

The woman tried to swallow, it hurt and she tasted blood. She thought that she might have cut her lib when she tripped, but that didn’t matter now. “Please let me go, I’ll give you whatever you want. I won’t tell anyone. Please just take my money and leave me be.”

The faunus seemed to find the woman’s pleading amusing since he began to snicker, a noticeable serpent like hiss slipping into his voice in the process. “Oh I’ll get what I want alright, but it’s not your money. What good would it be with the whole damn world coming to an end?”

If the woman didn’t like where this was going before she really didn’t like it now. “Wh-what do you want?” She asked.

The faunus snickered again before throwing her back onto the ground. The woman let out a startled shriek, but before she could do much else, the faunus was straddling her and trying to pin her down. “Take a guess, human?” The faunus told her as he made a show of cutting off the top button of her blouse.

“No… No!” Realizing what the faunus had in mind the woman began to scream and struggle with everything she had left. “Help! Get off of me! Somebody help me!”

“Stop your damn struggling! I said stop!” The faunus commanded, though the woman did not heed his commands. “You want to die?!” The faunus shouted as he pulled back his fist to strike the woman, but when he tried to bring it back down he found that he was unable. Every time he tried he felt a tugging sensation on his wrist. He must have caught it on something, he thought.

Then when the faunus realized that he couldn’t pull his fist free, he became frustrated and reluctantly moved his gaze away from his prey to see what he was snagged on. When he did, his eyes widened and he had to fight back the instinct to jump when he saw another human girl behind him. The girl had a long golden mane of hair and her eyes were an unsettling shade of red. The way the girl glared down on him suggested she wasn’t happy.

The faunus wasn’t deterred however, it was just one young girl. He just needed to take control of the situation. “Well what do we have here?” He asked as he pointed his knife towards the blond girl’s neck. “Sorry dear but I’m a bit busy right now, so you’re going to have to wait your turn. Don’t worry though, this won’t take lon…”

The faunus didn’t get to finish whatever it was he intended to say since the new girl tightened her grip on his other arm, causing him to wince in pain as he felt his bones cracking. Then the girl used her free hand to wrench the knife out of the faunus’ grip before she yanked him up off the downed woman and slammed her fist into his face. The force of the blow caused the faunus’ mask to splinter and sent him flying several feet backward before crashing into a tree with a thud and collapsing on the ground unconscious.

With that job done, the golden haired girl looked down on the woman who had been attacked. When she saw the woman flinch and her fearful expression remained after the woman had gazed into her eyes, the girl blinked her eyes a few times to return them to their usual lilac pigment before offering the woman a hand up. “Are you alright? He didn’t do anything, did he?”

“N-no, I’m alright. Thank you, Miss- umm.” The woman replied as she accepted her savior’s hand.

“Don’t mention it, and its Yang. Yang Xiao Long. What’s your name?” Yang asked.

The woman seemed surprised by Yang’s causal tone given the situation, but in a way it was kind of comforting. “I’m Cherry, Cherry Adams. Thank you for helping me Yang, seriously.”

Yang shrugged. “No problem, I’m a huntress so it’s kind of my job. Well I’m a huntress in training at least.” She explained before humming in thought and speaking again. “By the way, you care to tell me why you were out here in the middle of the night with all this craziness happening? I’m fairly sure everyone was warned to stay in their homes until this situation is under control.”

“My friends and I were just trying to cut through we needed to get to the… wait.” Cherry begun to explain before her eyes became wide with recollection. “Oh shit, my friends! Their still in danger, we came in together and there were more of those men! We got separated! We have to do something!” She said in a panic.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about them.” Yang said while waving her hand to dismiss it. “I came with my teammates. They should be dealing with the stragglers as we speak.” She explained.

“Yang!” The two heard a high pitched voice call out from behind them.

“Speak of the devil.” Yang mused before turning around to see her little sister running up to her with the rest of her team and a handful of civilians in toe. “Hey sis, looks like you guys found them.”

Ruby gave her sister a nod. “Yep, wasn’t hard to track them with Penny’s help and now Weiss put the baddies on ice. It should hold them until we can figure out what to do with them. Speaking of, Weiss if you wouldn’t mind.” Ruby said while pointing her white clad teammate in the direction of the man that her sister had subdued. Weiss signed, but quickly drew her weapon to encase the man’s body in a hard icy shell to prevent him from moving.

“That may not be necessary.” Yang declared, causing her teammates to give her an odd look. “Just saying, the dude is out cold, isn’t not like he’s going to be waking up anytime soon. At least not until we fix things.

“We don’t know that for sure.” Blake chimed in. “Getting knocked out and falling asleep aren’t the same thing and each affect the brain in very different ways. Of course I’m not a doctor so I can’t say with any certainty one way or the other, but I see no reason to take chances.”

“Hmm, you think so?” Yang asked.

Blake gave a nod and Weiss added. “I agree, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“Well I guess I can’t argue with that.” Yang admitted before stretched out and suddenly found herself fighting back a yawn. “Oh man I need a pick me up. Sis what do we got left?” She called out to her sister.

Ruby perked up at her sister’s call. “Oh, hold up let me check!” She called back before slipping off the backpack she had been carrying. After opening the bag and inspecting its contents a frown appeared across her face. Then she reached inside and pulled out a large black aluminum can with three red scratch marks painted onto the face of it. “All we got left is three Grimm drinks.” She declared before tossing the can to her sister.

Yang caught the can easily and immediately cracked it open and began chugging its contents. A few seconds later she lowered the can and let out a satisfied sigh. “Man that hits the spot, but seriously we will need to hit up another store on the way, restock. Speaking of, where are we going now? This was the biggest lead we had and these so called White Fang were just a bunch of perverts.”

“Well these guys over here said that they were heading for the hospital that’s near here.” Ruby said, motioning towards the people behind her.

“You mean Saint Amber? Why?” Yang inquired.

“Yes, apparently the Atlas Military has set up shop in that area and has been working with the hospital staff to create a treatment for the sleep virus. I figured that would be something we’d be interested in. So I offered to escort these people to the hospital and while were there, we can check things out ourselves. Who knows, they might have something, or they might need a few huntresses on hand to make it happen.”

Yang hummed for a moment then gave a nod. “Seems like a solid plan, let’s get a move on then.” She declared before downing the rest of her Grimm drink and tossing the empty can into a nearby waste bin.

////////////////////////////////////////////////

**Grimm Lands Salem’s Tower Time Unknown**

It was quiet. That was the first thing Cinder noticed as she paced through the halls of her mistress’ stronghold. Of course quiet wasn’t anything unusual for this place. Being this far away from civilization and surrounded on all sides by miles of Grimm infested wilderness will do that. On top of that, on average there wouldn’t be any more than ten or so people roaming these halls at any given time. Also most of those who did, knew not to cause a disturbance or risk invoking Salem’s wrath.

However, this silence still unnerved Cinder. The reason was because since the moment she had arrived here, she hadn’t seen or heard a single soul human or otherwise. Not even her mistress had appeared before her yet, which was odd since she would normally at least send a Grimm to greet her at the entrance, and there was no way she could’ve not noticed her arrival. Nothing in this land slips past her gaze, not in her own domain at least.

Thinking that her mistress must simply be busy with more pressing matters, Cinder had begun her search of the stronghold. She had started with the most obvious places where her allies would gather, starting with the throne room. However, there was no one to be found there, nor was their any signs of recent activity there. So she moved on to the training grounds, but again there was no sign of life. Feeling a bit more desperate, Cinder decided to try searching the Grimm spawning pits, but still nobody appeared before her.

Left with only one sensible option, Cinder made her way to her mistress’ private chambers. Cinder would normal never dear disturb her mistress here, but this situation was imply far too strange, and Cinder needed answers now. When she reached the set of large ornate doors that lead into her mistress’ chamber, Cinder had hold herself back from throwing them open like she would any other, and instead settled on a soft knock on the door. “Mistress, forgive me if I am disturbing you, but there is something I would like to discuss with you?”

Cinder waited a moment and listened for a reply. She received only more silence, so she tried again slightly louder this time. “Mistress, are you there?!” No response. Letting out a sigh Cinder decided to through caution to the wind and stepped forwards shoving the doors aside, before stepping into a large bed chamber.

As Cinder stepped inside Salem’s room, she noticed a few things. The first was that while this room, like much of her mistress’ stronghold, was rather macabre. Dark, gloomy, and had just a touch of sinister. However, it was still a chamber meant for a queen and as such it was quite decedent and there wasn’t a spec of dust to be found. The second thing she noticed was her mistress’ bed that was positioned against the far wall a large bed with dark silk curtains draping down around it to block out the light.

Cinder carefully took a step towards the bed. “Mistress, are you here?” No answer came, so Cinder stepped closer and closer all the while calling out for her mistress until she was at the bed side. Figuring she had nothing to lose at this point Cinder brushed the curtains aside to look inside, but then sighed in disappointment when she saw that it was not only vacant, but neatly made suggesting it hadn’t even been used recently.

A quick glance around the rest of the room only confirmed her findings, or rather lack there of. That just left the question. “Where is everybody?” Cinder asked allowed, hoping against hope that somebody, anybody, would hear her and reply. She wouldn’t even mind hearing Tyrian’s irksome voice answer her right now. Nobody did of course, which made her groan in frustration.

Cinder wasn’t too surprised really. She knew that Salem rarely slept. Truthfully she wasn’t even sure if her mistress’ required it in the first place. The Grimm certainly didn’t need rest, so it would only make since that their queen wouldn’t either, but she knew better than to presume anything about the powerful and mysterious woman that took her in.

Though weather or not Salem required sleep or not aside, Cinder was only human, and as such she most definitely did need to rest. Since it had been a long trip to get here, she had hopped she’d be able to do just that after speaking to her mistress. However, with her apparently nowhere to be found, it left Cinder in a bit of a bind.

“Would it be rude if I turned in before announcing myself?” Cinder pondered before she felt a yawn force its way out of her mouth and suddenly feeling grateful that nobody was around to see it. Then a thought occurred to her and her eyes returned to her mistress’ bed suddenly thinking that it looked incredibly comfortable. “Nobody is here.” She repeated allowed. Then she began to approach the bed once again. “I’m sure my mistress wouldn’t mind if I just rest my head for a few minutes.” She assured herself, while not fully believing it herself.

Then Cinder pulled aside the curtain and carefully slid herself into the soft sheets, marveling at their warmth. She took a moment to adjust and fluff up the pillow before allowing her head to sink into it and the moment she did, she felt like she had become weightless. Cinder’s eyes slowly shut and before long, she began to drift. She became lighter and lighter whiles the waking world drift further and became fuzzier.

However just as Cinder was about to slip into the void, she heard a voice call out to her. At first she couldn’t make it out and content to ignore it, but it persisted, becoming louder and louder until Cinder could hear it clearly. “Cinder!” The voice was calling out to her and she could recognize that tone, but couldn’t quite place it. “Cinder wake up!” The voice urged and this time Cinder did recognize the voices owner. It belonged to Salem herself.

Cinder shot up out of bed, her eyes wide. “I’m so sorry, my mistress’ I meant no offense!” She pleaded. However, when she shot up out of bed and pulled aside the curtain so she could throw herself at her mistress’ feet, she was no where to be found. Her room was just as empty as it had been before, only now Cinder felt like a fool. “Was that just a dream?” She asked herself.

Cinder soon got her answer when the voice returned, louder and clearer than ever. “Cinder!”

Hearing that Cinder’s eyes instantly zeroed in on the source of the voice, it wasn’t coming from a person or even from the doorway. It was actually emanating from a large standing mirror in the corner of the room. That was odd, but Cinder didn’t question it. She rushed over to the mirror as quickly as she could and when she got close enough to make out what she thought was her own reflection. She was surprised to her mistress staring back at her.

“Mistress, I’m my deepest apologies!” Cinder shouted. “I didn’t mean to-“ Cinder was cut off before she could say more.

“There is no time Cinder! You’re in grave danger, I know not how the creature got loose, but it is beyond my control!” Salem declared.

Cinder looked confused for a moment before looking around. “Wait, what creature!? What danger!? Is that why no one is here!?”

“A dmrea erapre Cinder!” Salem shouted her words becoming muddled in the middle of her sentence as if something was interrupting her signal.

“A what, I don’t understand!” Cinder said.

“Accursed creature, I should’ve eradicated the lot of them when I had the chance.” Salem said as she clicked her tongue in annoyance. “Cinder, listen to me now for we don’t have much time! You must wake up! It is coming, and if you remain here you will parish!”

“Wake up? I don’t understand, mistress!” Cinder shouted, but before she could get anymore from her mentor, her image in the mirror warped and distorted. Twisting in unnatural ways as its flesh darkened and her eyes glowed with an ominous red light.

“What!?” Cinder hissed before she was forced to jump back from the mirror to avoid being stabbing her in the heart with what appeared to be a blacked short sword that the dark figure had some how thrust right through the surface of the mirror.

The dark figure then looked down at its extended arm and then back up to meet Cinder’s gaze. Its expression was unreadable behind the white mask that had taken form on its face, but based on the way it tilted its head. It appeared to be confused, as if it hadn’t expected its attack to be evaded. However, it got over it quickly since without much delay, it retracted its blade. The surface of the mirror rippled like water as the blade sunk in and then erupted when the creature stepped forward and into Salem’s bed chamber.

The whole time, Cinder’s eyes carefully watched the dark figure. She wasn’t sure what this thing was, at a glance it appeared to be some sort of Grimm, but it appeared humanoid. She had never seen a humanoid Grimm besides her Mistress before and she had no use for weapons like this one did.

Cinder had also never seen or heard of any creature that could walk through mirrors, but it didn’t really matter. This thing, whatever it was, clearly meant to do her harm. In defiance of her mistress’ will no less, that simply could not be allow.

Cinder quickly took up a proper fighting stance before clothes began to glow like they had been lit on fire. Running a hand across the patters that adorned her sleeves, a spark ignited in the palm of her hand before she launched ball of hot flame towards her adversary.

Reacting surprisingly fast the Grimm creature throw itself to the side, allowing the ball of fire to strike the standing mirror, blowing it to pieces and igniting what remained of the wooden frame. Then without missing a beat the Grimm lunged forward with its black blade extended.

Seeing the attack coming Cinder once again ran her hands across her clothes, only this time the flames took form, and a sword of her own appeared in the palm of her hand. She then used her new weapon to parry her opponent’s attack before she rolled past it and used her free hand to repeat the motion she performed before to launch a second fireball at the creatures open flank.

The Grimm’s gleaming red eyes looked back just in time to see the fireball coming, but this time the distance was far too small to allow enough time to dodge. Instead, the creature performed a motion similar to the one Cinder had used to draw forth a second blade, which it then used to intercept the flaming projectile. However, when the blade made contact with the fireball, it combusted spraying sparks and hot embers in every direction with many landing around the creatures feet.

Cinder was surprised by what she had just seen the Grimm do, but she wouldn’t let her chance slip away. She reached a hand out towards the embers at the Grimm’s feet. She could feel them and she could use them. A red glyph appeared at the center of the embers and Cinder raised her hand up. As if obeying and unspoken command, they all swirled together before erupting in a pillar of flame that tore up the floor and reach the ceiling.

As the flames roared and the once dark room was bathed in red light Cinder felt a surge of both pride at her triumph over yet another foe and dread when she realized that she had just set fire to her mistress’ room. Though she managed to shake off those fears, she mistress was not a kind woman, but she was never unfair. Surely Salem would see and understand the necessity of her actions.

Cinder’s concerns about the damage were quickly put aside however when the flames that had engulfed her enemy exploded outward. Cinder had to quickly back peddle to avoid the stray embers that had been scattered in every direction as the pillar that had been their source dissipated. As the flames faded they revealed a smoldering, but otherwise unharmed monster standing within. Its baneful red eyes were now once again locked with Cinder’s wide golden orbs.

“How?” Cinder absentmindedly asked. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. No normal Grimm could survive such an attack.

The Grimm creature didn’t respond of course, it simply cracked its neck in a very unnatural way before it began to wipe its hand across its still smoldering flesh. At first it looked as if it were simply brushing off the embers, but instead it was actually gathering them in its palm, and then it raised its palm in Cinder’s direction and let out a deafening screech.

Cinder knew what it was doing, but didn’t want to believe it. That almost cost her as she only just barely managed to dunk under a roaring ball of fire that the beast had released from its hand. This time the ball of flame struck the bed blowing it to splinters and causing a rain of flaming silk. ‘What a waste.’ Cinder couldn’t help but think before she had to go on the defensive again as the Grimm charged in.

The Grimm’s blades gleamed as it raised them above its head to strike at Cinder and she reacted on instinct. She summoned her second blade and parried both attacks before stepping into her opponent’s guard and driving one of her blades into its chest right around where its heart should be.

The Grimm wailed in agony, but didn’t fall as Cinder had hopped. Instead it flipped one of its blades around in to get it into a reverse grip and tried to drive it into Cinder’s backside. Cinder quickly yanked her blade free and slipped out of the way allowing the Grimm to drive its blade straight into its own chest right next to where hers had been. This caused its wails of pain to intensify as it staggered backwards, all the while trying to pull its blade free from its own flesh.

Seizing the opening, Cinder snapped her blades together causing a ripple of flame to cascade across their surface and when the flames faded a black bow had taken their place. Then with another practiced motion she drew forth three black arrows, notched all three at once, and fired them directly at her stumbling opponent’s chest. The arrows struck home exploding on impacted rattling the floor and throwing the creature off its feet.

For a moment the Grimm rived on the floor giving Cinder the chance to catch her breath and finally get a good look at the creature that had been giving her so much trouble. Much to her disgust and delight, the Grimm’s body had been scorched beyond recognition. Though, it wasn’t had to do when it didn’t have many distinguishing features to begin with. Like most Grimm its flesh was mostly black with only a few spots of white where sharp bone protrusions stuck up through its dark flesh. During the battle Cinder had also thought that the creature may have looked vaguely female. 

Cinder shook her head to clear her wondering thoughts. None of that really mattered right now, she could tell that her opponent was still alive, and decided it would be best to finish it while she could. Cinder notched another arrow and took a step forward, but that was as far as she got before the Grimm suddenly let out a deafening screech and sprang back up into its feet. 

Acting on reflex Cinder quickly leveled her bow on her rising enemy just as it began to charge towards her with both its dark blades in hand and wailing like a banshee. Cinder had a good shot on its head and was about to take it, but then she noticed something that caused her hands pause her eyes to widened and her mind race. The Grimm’s body was healing, it wasn’t steadily healing either. Nor was it just healing quickly. No, it was nearly instantaneous. All of the wounds that Cinder had just inflicted on the creature were disappearing right before her eyes.

Then when the Grimm was nearly on top of Cinder and bringing its blades down at her in an over head swing, she had to curse herself for hesitating in battle before she raised her bow up above her head to block her opponents attack. The blow was much heavier than she had expected however and she was nearly forced down onto one knee. Instead she let out a snarl and pushed herself through the pain to throw back the Grimm.

The Grimm stumbled back for about a second before it caught its balance by spinning on the heels of its feet, which Cinder just now noticed actually looked like high heels, and took a swing at her throat. Cinder took a spun her body as well to avoid the strike and in the same motion summoned a wall of fire around her that quickly and explosively expanded around her.

Much to Cinder’s displeasure the Grimm weathered her flames well, forcefully pushing its body through the flames to take another stab at her. Cinder took a step back to dodge, but the Grimm continued to lay into her with one strike after another which she was forced to deflect with her weapon. It during this relentless melee that Cinder recalled what her mistress had told her right before this had all begun. She had warned her that if she remained her she would parish.

Cinder’s mistress had wanted her to flee and it was only now after fighting the beast that she able to see why. This Grimm was strong, stronger than any she had fought before, and if she couldn’t slay it then this battle was already decided before it had even begun. On top of that realization together with a quick look around the room that was now completely engulfed in red hot flames told her that this battle couldn’t continue. That made her next course of action very easy to figure out.

Cinder waited for the Grimm to come in for another thrust, instead of trying to dodge and go in for a counter attack, she released her weapon which blinked out of existence in a buff of fire and smoke, then she used her now free hands to catch her opponent by the wrist. She then spun around twisting her opponent’s wrist and pressing her back into its chest and throwing an elbow into its face while she was at it. The Grimm wailed in anger and tried to thrust the blade in its free hand into Cinder’s chest, but she caught that too before kicking off the ground and heaving with all her strength to throw the Grimm over her head and straight through a large stained glass window.

The Grimm roared as it crashed through the window and began its free fall from the top of the tower where it had been ejected from, but it reacted quickly spinning in the air and driving one of its blades into the stone work to slow its decent until it came to a screeching halt about two stories down. However, Cinder was prepared for that and was already perched on the windowsill with her bow in hand and taking aim. “Get out of my sight, you insolent monster!” She roared before taking her shot.

Assisted by gravity, the black arrow cut a red streak through the air as it descended the tower towards its intended target. The Grimm saw the incoming projectile coming, but was ill prepared for and could only shriek as it was struck in the face and blown off the side of the tower. Now once again in freefall, the Grimm flailed wildly, but this time had no means to find perches and continued on its downward spiral towards the barren wasteland below until it was out of sight.

Cinder watched on from her perch. Once she was sure her opponent had fallen all the way to the bottom, she allowed her weapon to lower and the breath she had been holding to be released. “What was that vile creature?” She asked herself as she wiped some sweat from her brow and turned around to face what should have been a blazing inferno. When she did, her whole body froze and her face paled. “No, that’s not possible.” She muttered as she took in the sight before her.

Now standing before Cinder was herself, or at least a reflection of herself. It was delivered by a single standing mirror in the center of the room. That caught Cinder off guard since it shouldn’t have been there, couldn’t have been there, it had been destroyed after all. Cinder didn’t have much time to ponder what this might mean though. This was because the moment she made eye contact with herself in the mirror, the image began to darken and distort just as it had before she was attacked earlier. Only this time the black figure gripped a bow and had it leveled in her direction.

“No!” Cinder shouted right before the creature loosed an arrow that shot out through the surface of the mirror and would have struck her in the chest if she hadn’t brought her own bow up to block it. However, the explosion that followed sent a wave of pain and heat radiating though her body and her vision was devoured by its light.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

**Beacon Academy Amphitheater Day 2 4:10AM**

“Wow she is really burning up.” Nora declared as she pulled her hand away from the forehead of a slumbering Cinder Fall.

“This is quite concerning.” Pyrrha declared “She looks like she’s having a nightmare.”

“Yeah, and she’s not the only one.” Nora replied somberly before sparing a glance at several of the other beacon students amassed around the Amphitheater. Her eyes hovered over the still forms of Mercury Black, Jaune Arc, and her own partner Lie Ren for a bit longer than the others. None of the aforementioned had shown much if any signs of life until recently, but much to Nora and Pyrrha’s dismay, what little signs of life they were now showing seemed to consist only of pain and discomfort. On top of that, their aura levels had begun to decline drastically, but no explanation could be given as to the how or why.  
“What do you think is causing this?” Pyrrha asked.

“I have no idea Pyrrha, but whatever it is it’s about to get the smack down of the century for hurting our friends.” Nora declared in a determined tone as she palmed her fist.

Pyrrha could spare a thin smile for that declaration. “Yeah, that is unless team RWBY beat us too it.”

Nora snorted. “I guess they do have a head start, those cheats.” Then Nora sighed and placed her palm back down on the feverish woman’s head and had to suppress a wince. “Geez, this is no joke. Its like her whole body is on fire.”

“We should do something to bring her fever down.” Pyrrha suggested before biting her thumb in thought. “Hmm, Nora could you go fetch me a rag and a bucket of ice water?” She asked before glancing at their other comatose friends and adding. “Actually grab a few. No telling when the others might get feverish.”

“Sure thing captain!” Nora declared before gave a crisp salute and sprang to her feet.

Then right when Nora was about to step away Pyrrha spoke up again. “Oh, also could you close the dividing curtain on your way out? She’s sweating buckets, so I will need to get her out of these clothes.”

Nora snickered. “Oh Pyrrha you sneak you. If you wanted some private time you only needed to say that.”

“Nora!” Pyrrha snapped as her cheeks began to darken.

“Sorry, sorry. Just couldn’t resist.” Nora said as her smile fell and she turned back to leave. “I will be right back. Don’t go snoozing while I’m away.”

Pyrrha gave a nod. “I’ll be alright. Just had one of those energy drinks that the other teams brought, so I feel wide awake.”

“I will hold you to that then.” Nora said as she stepped out and nearly bumped into a man who was standing just outside their curtained off area. “Oh sorry, I must not have been paying attention.” She apologized.

“No, it’s quite alright I wasn’t either.” The figure replied before reaching into their pocket to fetch a flask and taking a swig. “Well take it easy kid.” The man then stepped past her heading towards the teachers tent.

“Hmm, I feel like I’ve seen that guy somewhere before.” Nora said as she scratched her chin. Then she shrugged. “Oh well, I don’t have time to worry about stuff like that.” She then quickly went to fulfill her assigned task.

///////////////////////////////////////////////

**Beacon Academy Amphitheater Day 2 4:20AM**

Glynda Goodwitch didn’t want to be awake right now. She didn’t want to look through one more report or talk to another government official. She didn’t want more bad news and she didn’t want to lie just to assure everyone that they had the situation under control. What she wanted was somebody to bring her something she could use, preferably coffee at the moment, and then maybe the cure for this epidemic if they had the time.

Unfortunately, with so many people going without sleep for so long, coffee has become a rather hot commodity. No pun intended. Anyway now their stock has completely run dry. A fact that would’ve given their headmaster a heart attack, well if he were here, but so far he hadn’t seen fit to reveal himself. On top of that they were also running quite low on sugary snacks, drinks, and basically anything else that included caffeine. It’s gotten so bad that they had started sending teams into Vale just to “gather” more supplies, which really just meant stealing it from the local shops. Not ideal to say the least, but desperate times and all that. However, the trips have been slow going due to the chaos in the city and have been offering diminishing returns each time.

“I have a field report, Glynda!” Professor Port declared as he marched into the tent that they were using as their makeshift command center.

Hearing her friend’s announcement caused a sigh to escape Glynda’s lips, but in a practiced motion she reached out to claim a small folder from the stout mustached man. She quickly began skimming through its contents, then after a moment her eyes widened and she let out a soft gasp.

“What is it, Glynda?” Kitsune asked, noticing her coworker’s distress.

“It seems that the missing members of team CFVY have just arrived, and they have brought us some rather interesting news.” Glynda replied.

“Oh, and what kind of news would that be?” Kitsune asked now sounding a bit curious, her fox tail swinging from side to side behind her.

“Well it would seem,” Glynda began before being interrupted when a yawn forced its way up her throat and through her lips. Then it began to resonate around the room earning her a few irate looks.

“Please don’t do that Glynda, your going to kill us.” Kitsune complained as she rubbed at her tired eyes.

“Sorry, that one caught me off guard.” Glynda said.

“Hmm, looks like I have no choice.” Doctor Oobleck declared as he stood up from his seat and slowly made his way over to a coffee maker set up in the corner of the tent. Slowly being a relative term since to most people it would have appeared that the good Doctor was moving at a rather reasonable pace. However, to everyone that knew the man, it was clear that he was exhausted.

“What are you doing?” Glynda inquired. “You do know that were still out of coffee?”

Oobleck shrugged as he began fiddling with the device. “You will see.” He said with a smile.

“Riiiight, well as you were saying Glynda.” Kitsune said still eager to hear the news.

“Oh, right umm.” Glynda started before flipping the folder back open to make sure what she was about to tell them was accurate. “It seems that the missing members of team CFVY have just returned and that they have made contact with a professional huntsman that happened to be in the area. A huntsman that also just so happens to have experience piloting Bullheads.”

“Wow that will be handy, anyone we know?” Kitsune inquires.

“Yes,” Glynda said before sighing. “It’s Qrow.”

“Qrow, you mean Branwen?” Kitsune question suddenly sounding excited.

“Yes, that’s the one. Figures that not even the end of the world could stop that drunkard.” Glynda mused before she was startled when a steaming mug filled with a mysterious dark liquid was thrust into her field of vision. After blinking through the confusion, her eyes widened in excited. “Coffee, but how!? I thought we were all out?!” She shouted as she glanced up to the man holding it out to her.

Oobleck smiled knowingly down at Glynda. “This is all we got left, it’s from my personal stash.”

“And you’re just giving it to me?” Glynda inquired and Oobleck gave her a curt nod in response. Glynda actually beamed for a moment as she took another look at the steaming mug. It was almost too good to be true, of course in her experience that meant it was so she had to take pause. “Why are you giving this to me?” She inquired.

“Well, because you’re exhausted Glynda. You need it.” Oobleck replied.

This answer didn’t seem to satisfy the deputy headmaster. “We’re all exhausted Bart. Why not give it to somebody else who wants it instead?”

“Drink Glynda, you’ve been working harder than anyone and clearly need it the most.” Oobleck insisted.

Glynda eyed the dark brew with suspicion for a moment before reluctantly taking it in her hands. Oobleck’s smile widened, but it faltered a moment later when Glynda gave the drink one sniff and grimaced. “Bart, you said this was from your personal stash correct?” The doctor gave a nod. “This wouldn’t happen to be one of your special brews would it?”

“What, no! I know how much you dislike it.” Oobleck assured his superior.

Glynda didn’t seem to buy Oobleck’s words since she quickly glanced towards their local nurse to address her. “Pardon me Kitsune, but would you mind if I borrowed your lighter for a moment?”

The faunus in question gave Glynda a confused look complete with a slight tilt of her head and a raised eyebrow. “My lighter you say? Glynda you know I don’t smoke. Why would I be carrying a lighter?” Kitsune asked then when her question was only met with Glynda’s own questioning stare she sighed and relented. “Fine, here.” She said as she reached into her coat pocket and produced a large black lighter with a silver skull motive etched into the face and passed it to her blonde coworker.

“Thank you, Kitsune.” Glynda told the faunus before flicking the cap off the lighter and hovering it over the top of the dark liquid that was supposedly coffee, then with a click of the igniter the dark liquid caught flame. Seeing this Glynda sighed for what had to be the one-hundredth time that day. “You know Bart, coffee isn’t usually flammable.” Oobleck could only laugh nervously as he tried not to meet his deputy’s gaze. “I think I will pass.” Glynda declared as she handed the mug back to Oobleck.

“Are you sure Glynda?” Oobleck asked as he blew on the mug to extinguish the flames. “I know it’s not to your liking, but you need something and the stuff works. I swear by it.” He reasoned.

“We still have caffeine patches, those will be enough.” Glynda replied sternly.

“Well if you insist.” Oobleck said with a deep sigh of his own before he decided to take a swig of his own concoction. The moment the mysterious liquid settled in his stomach his whole body seemed to shake and he let out another sigh, only this time it was one of satisfaction.

“Oh, can I try that?” Kitsune asked while staring at the steaming mug with intense focus and curiosity. Oobleck shrugged and passed it off to her with a warning that it was still hot. “Please, I am not a child! I know how to drink coffee- ouch!”

“Told you.” Oobleck deadpanned.

It looked like the fox faunus was about to make some sort of snappy comeback, but before she could get the chance the curtain to their makeshift workstation was thrown aside and a man stepped through. Instantly all eyes in the room snapped to the rather shabby looking man who had just barged in. Then a few narrowed once they saw who it was.

“Well looks like the whole gang is here!” Qrow declared as he stepped forward.

“Hello Qrow.” Glynda greeted after letting out a sigh.

“Yeah, it’s good to see you too Glynda.” Qrow deadpanned before he began taking in the space around him and not liking what he saw, at least if the frown he was now sporting meant anything. “Have any of you seen Ozpin anywhere?” He asked suddenly sounding serious.

“No, we haven’t been able to locate him, but I’m sure he is around here somewhere.” Port replied.

“You sure he’s still, you know?” Qrow inquired.

Glynda sighed. “I heard from him two days ago right before all of this started. He seemed to have some idea about what was going on, but I haven’t seen or heard from him since. So to answer your question, I have no idea.”

“Alright, second question.” Qrow began as he strolled up to the small table and pulled out a chair for himself. “Can anyone tell me where my niece’s team is?”

“You mean team RWBY?” Doctor Oobleck asked earning himself a nod from Qrow. “As far as I’m aware, their team is currently in Vale. Their friends, the members of team JNPR told us that they wanted to do what they could to help out. However, they left early yesterday morning and we have since lost contact with them.”

“By lost contact, you mean what exactly?” Qrow asked suddenly sounding worried.

“The communication network is down. None of our scrolls are working.” The Doctor replied. “We believe something is wrong with the CCT, but haven’t been able to send a team to investigate quite yet.”

“Well then I guess I should be going then.” Qrow said as he made to stand up.

“Wait, where’re you going?” Glynda asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Qrow asked as he glanced in Glynda’s direction. When it looked like the woman wasn’t going to answer he let out a sigh and went on. “I’m going to go find my nieces and their team. I can’t let them wander around in this chaos without some back up. Their old man would never forgive me if anything happened to them.” He stated before making to leave again only for Glynda to reach out and pull him back into his seat. “Hey, Glynda what gives!?” He barked angrily.

“Could you wait for just a minute Qrow? I have a few questions for you.” Glynda declared.

“Oh, like what?” Qrow inquired.

“Why are you here in Vale to begin with? Did Ozpin contact you? Do you have any idea what’s going on out there?” Glynda asked.

Qrow snorted. “I don’t know any more than you do. I’m only here to make sure my family is okay and I’m not acting on Oz’s orders.”

Glynda deflated slightly before speaking again. “I see. Then I just have one more question for you. You’ve been out there, how bad is it?”

Qrow shrugged. “It’s about as bad as it gets. I’ve seen some crazy shit in my time Glynda, but this takes the cake.”

“What’s happening out there?” Oobleck inquired.

“Well if you really want to know,” Qrow began as he drew out a small silver flask from his back pocket and took a swig from it. “Let me tell you, but be warned. I don’t think your going to like what you’re about hear.”

**Author's Note:**

> So what did you think? This chapter was mostly set up so it didn't get too dark quite yet but, I'm sure you can see where this is going. Will there be light at the end of the tunnel? Only time will tell.
> 
> Now, I think its about time I take a good nap...


End file.
